Duncan Peckle's young life changes forever the day his mysterious relative, Uncle Dudley of the great voyages, arrives in Mt. Geranium in his battered Panama hat and old tweed coat. No sooner do Duncan's parents leave him in his bungling uncle's care than a strange package arrives and the attic guest room is overflowing with the accoutrements of magical research (and one shrunken head). For eleven-year-old Duncan, it's the start of a summer full of marvelous misadventures — from accidentally summoning goblins to reversing invisibility spells, from unleashing a love elixir to zooming around on giant bubbles through the wild night air.

"Uncle Dudley, 'a voyager with wizardly ambitions,' rolls into Mt. Geranium in time to 'act in loco parentis,' as Dudley puts it, when 11-year-old Duncan's parents take a summer break. Duncan, the wistful narrator of Yourgrau's first book for young readers, realizes his parents' concern about leaving him in Dudley's care were well-founded when a newsletter's magic spell causes part of his uncle to disappear and turns a neighbor statuesque. When Duncan's fractious friend, Arthur, casts doubt on Dudley's exploits in 'Valparaso, Panama' (pointing out that it's really in Chile), the boy begins to realize his uncle's imagination is as vivid as his common sense is scarce. Uncle Dudley's reach exceeds his grasp most foolishly in love, when he falls for a married waitress with heartbreaking (for him) and near-disastrous (for Duncan) results. The biggest disappointment for readers may be that uncle and nephew — 'two bungling peas in the same pod' — never do make magic successfully. Though Duncan muses that their summer misadventures finally caused his uncle to grow up, readers may wonder why a grown man would hightail it out of town without saying goodbye rather than face the music with Duncan's parents. Black-and-white watercolor-and-ink drawings, including a few double-page spreads, add cartoonish appeal to this pleasant, if not quite enchanting, read. Ages 9-12." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Barry Yourgrau has both a wacky imagination and a keen sense of how youth perceive the adults in their worlds. His story is a joy. Tony Auth's illustrations are a perfect, whimsical compliment to this inspired tale." Children's Literature

"Witty, cartoonlike illustrations support the nostalgic feel of the story....Fans of Norton Juster's Phantom Tollbooth will enjoy the quiet charm and sophisticated language of this sometimes poignant tale of enchantment..." Booklist

"[A] lively story...a good introduction to fantasy....Auth's illustrations complement the fun and whimsy of the story." School Library Journal

"Yourgrau's story seems overstuffed with incident and oddly lacking in individuality....Auth's pen-and-ink illustrations help to ground the story in time...and offer amusing glimpses of characters and events..." Kirkus Reviews

Enhanced by Auth's wry drawings, Yourgrau's middle-grade fantasy of a boy and his magical, moon-touched uncle is at once humorous and poignant, nostalgic and timeless. Illustrations.