A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Spies, a family on the run, and extreme silliness abound in this story for the chapter-book set. The whole thing's kind of a set up: the author's pen name is ridiculous, and he sticks himself into the story as an all-seeing narrator of sorts. Characters have goofy, crazy names and even the dog's got problems.

The setup sounds more serious than it is: a pair of married, brilliant scientists create a time machine. Mom gets killed by agents trying to get the technology. Dad doesn't know the computer code she used to make it work, so he and the kids are on the run while they try to sort out the solution.

But it's a mostly light-hearted story, and even the suspenseful part at the end isn't too dark or scary. One kid's got a major thing about bubble gum. There's a sassy, squeaky sock puppet. And I definitely see a series in the making ...