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CHARLIE MALARKEY AND THE BELLYBUTTON MACHINE by William & Brenden Kennedy Kennedy Kirkus Star

CHARLIE MALARKEY AND THE BELLYBUTTON MACHINE

By

Pub Date: Nov. 14th, 1986
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly--dist. by Little, Brown

Daniel Pinkwater, beware! Here's a zany tale, bizarre and kid-tickling enough to give you substantial competition. The eminent novelist (Ironweed), in collaboration with his 16-year-old son, relates the adventures of Charlie and his friend Iggy, who awake sans navels, trace the mad scientist culprit and his elaborate machine, get their navels back (only slightly askew) and prevent the ripping off of any more by causing the machine to contort itself so that it is only useful as a piece of modern sculpture. Told with wry, satirical humor and plenty of genuinely funny detail (e.g., Charlie's navel looks like a mosquito bite in sunglasses), not to mention the always fascinating (and slightly unmentionable) subject of navels, this should find a wide and eager audience. The well-designed full-color illustrations on alternate pages, carefully cartoon-like and unbabyish, should attract a broad age range.