Are kids interested in learning about the very first American census? Probably not. Do young readers clamor for stories set in the very, very olden days of the late 18th century? Uh, not really. Okay, but do they like nutty cat-and-mouse trickery, wacky slapstick, and animals disguised as people? You bet! So let them have all that, and if they end up learning a thing or two about our country, its history, and the ways our government...

When Lewis, his uncle Jonathan, and their friends Rose Rita Pottinger and Mrs. Zimmermann take a trip to a small town near Lake Superior, they expect a pleasant vacation. Instead, they find themselves facing the ghastly Ishmael Izard, son of the fiendish creator of the Doomsday Clock that was once hidden in the walls of Uncle Jonathan's house. Ishmael himself is a cruel and heartless sorcerer, and he is determined to wreak vengeance upon the entire...