D.L. Carroll

Reviewed by Grandma Bev for TeensReadToo.com

A story with a main character named Blaze N. Haught just has to be filled with fast action and excitement, and SIR LICKSALOT & THE MAVERICK FOOLS fulfills both these expectations.

When the Haught family moves from their city condo to a beach house, Blaze goes from having lots of friends and being the most popular 5th grader to being a loner who the local kids tease and bully. Blaze's parents consent to the adoption of a stray dog, but only if Blaze will make a serious effort to becoming friends with the kids at their new home.

Blaze agrees and names his new companion Sir Licksalot.

A housewarming with a barbeque seems to be the perfect way to invite all the new neighbors and give Blaze a chance to make some new friends. With a new basketball court in his yard, Blaze challenges the boys to a basketball game, a sport in which he excels.

However, the girls and Sir Licksalot disappear into a strange water fountain in the backyard. The boys are determined to locate them, and they, too, are pulled into the fountain and find themselves immersed in a strange adventure within an extreme water cave. The boys learn each others secrets, strengths, and weaknesses as they accept the challenges of the water park to locate the missing girls and Sir Licksalot.

The black and white illustrations add visual interest, and the maps lay out the path of the maze in the extreme water cave. All ends well after the hair-raising quests in this fantasy-filled imaginative story.

Death-defying action in a fast moving plot make this book hard to put down, and it is recommended to challenge the imagination of reluctant readers.… (mais)