peter graves: an extraordinary adventure

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, they don't write them like this anymore. When I was in fourth grade, I was constantly checking this one out of the library at Blue Creek School. It had everything a quiet-on-the-outside/wishful-adventurer-on-the-inside sort of kid could ever want.Fortunately, about ten years ago I bought a copy of the reprint, but soon after that it vanished from the shelves, again.If any book deserves to be reprinted, it is this one. Today's books for young people lack a certain quality that was found in "Peter Graves" and books like it...a quality of adventure and excitement. As a nine year old boy, I suspect I thought, "Yeah, this is fiction, but wouldn't it be great to be this kid?"

This book is etched in my memory from childhood. I remember it as captivating. Recently, my son(and I) had the good fortune to receive "Twenty One Balloons" as a birthday present. I was so excited, it brought back wonderful memories. He has read it five times(He is 9 y.o.). If you can find it - grab it, but don't take the last copy...I'm still in pursuit.

Everyone is afraid of the crazy inventor Houghton Furlong, and Peter Graves, a tough village boy, is no exception. When Peter accidentally destroys Houghton's house, he vows to earn the money to rebuild it. With a strange antigravity invention called Furloys, Peter and Houghton create a sensation. Earning money is no problem; but then Llewelyn Pierpont Boopfaddle shows up and ruins Peter's stunts.... A MUST READ!

Houghton Furlong is the genial inventor of an antigravitymaterial called Furloy. Peter Graves is an imaginativeboy of fourteen who accidentally destroys Houghton's house while trying out one of Houghton's inventions. The story is really about marketing! Equipped only with six Furloy balls, each with an antigravity pull of fifty pounds, Houghton and Peter must somehow use them to earn enough money to rebuild Houghton's house. (How would YOU do it?) The story is fascinating, and the illustrations are as wonderful as the story.