This truly eccentric take on the power of imagination requires a big suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. Sensel’s first novel features 11-year-old Bryan Zilcher, who becomes involved with the terribly mysterious president of ACME Inc., Archibald Keen. Bryan’s realistic feelings about his divorced dad’s girlfriend seem incongruous when mixed in with the wildly fantastic plot. ACME is an acronym for Astro-Chrono-Magical-Enterprises, and weird things do happen there. Bryan is hired after answering a series of incredibly nonsensical questions. Fellow school nerd Rebecca is hired as guard dog, acting and living life as a dog named Spot. Bryan’s first job is to plant popped corn in a vast field. Eventually his dad and his dad’s girlfriend get involved in what becomes a seriously warped and possibly dangerous experience with ACME. Some of the bizarre occurrences are truly imaginative. Slade’s illustrations add greatly to the tale, but the strange juxtaposition of reality and fantasy doesn’t quite gel. (Fiction. 9-12)
