I've read Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death several times, and once drove up to Chicago (before I lived here) to see Lifeline Theatre's stage adaptation—it's one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. This last time through I was listening to the audio version, available free from pinkwater.com. It's read by Daniel Pinkwater himself, which one of my friends remarked would drive her crazy. It's true that Pinkwater has a fairly gruff and distinctive voice. YMMV.

The story is a classic Pinkwater wacky adventure and one of the stars of the tale is a lightly-fictionalized Chicago (the Chicken Man was a real person!). The germs of my love for Chicago were definitely planted in this and other Pinkwater books.

FuzzyCo grade: A+