Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware

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Boy Technonaut, Jasper Dash, and his friends Lily Gefelty and Katie Mulligan travel into the mist-shrouded heart of the forbidden mountainous realm of Delaware to try and unravel a terrible mystery.

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hilarious absurdity submitted by camelsamba on April 20, 2012, 7:34pm I grabbed this story as a BOCD, almost at random, before a road trip with my 3 boys. I was not at all familiar with the author, but the cover appealed to me and the description sounded like it would appeal to my boys (ages 8, 11, and 13). This review was written after listening to the book, but most of it should apply to the print edition as well.

The story is absurd, and full of unrelated tangents, which work together to make it hilarious. It is even more absurd to someone who knows about Delaware (as I do) - like Katie, I was saying "there are no mountains in Delaware!" before they ever left Pelt. But setting aside those kinds of quibbles and just soaking in the story itself, I was able to enjoy the adventure. However, I did find myself tiring of the absurdity and silliness after a while - I felt like it should have been 20 to 25% shorter.

My boys also enjoyed the book. The 13yo was raving about it to a friend (quoting entire sections) when he got to camp. The 11yo says the beginning is kind of slow. The 8 yo has no complaints.

The penultimate track on the final CD is someone singing M. T. Anderson's version of the (bogus) Delaware State Song - again, hilarious in its absurdity! Not sure if the lyrics appear in the print edition - if not, try to get the BOCD just to hear it!