Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware

You really have to be over 50 to appreciate the plot of this book (or a old time SF geek). If you were so lucky as to be a 12 year old kid in 1920 and hung off of the words of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fiction you will understand this book completely. Otherwise required reading might be John Carter of Mars, A Princess of Mars and, so on. Jasper Dash is obviously modeled off of a 1920's pulp fiction character and in keeping with... Read Full Review

I've read several of M. T. Anderson's books now, and I'm amazed at the depth he can maneuver in literary waters. He can write intriguing fantasy stories, nonsensical adventure stories that belong in the pulps, and serious historical fiction for kids. Jasper Dash is definitely a fun book. You can see that from the cover. The prose is easy to read, the adventure is fun to bang through, and the sensibility is that of a Tom... Read Full Review

According to M. T. Anderson's latest inspired bit of lunacy, that would be a blrga-shirt and pochbtvms, traditional dress of Dover (see illus. by Kurt Cyrus on page 130). I had resigned myself to loving this book because I had loved the previous two books in this series: Whales on Stilts and The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, but I did worry about what the author was going to do with all the extra pages, this book being... Read Full Review

Some of the feedback is missing the point? I have read all three of the Lily, Jasper and Katie books aloud twice to my now-9 and 12-year olds. When the allusions are too obscure, the parody too arcane, they ask. Either the anything but MT-headed Mr. Anderson does read them aloud before they publish or he has an incredibly rich inner life. These books are a great way to read with and to your young readers.

I'm not sure why those who did not enjoy this book describe it as overlong or unplotted or poorly written. I suspect that the majority of Anderson's wit went right over their heads. I found it to be a complete delight, giddy in its determined inventiveness and rapturous in its assault on the world of children's series. Nearly every page contained a sly reference to some great children's book or other cultural signpost... Read Full Review