Stuart Horten, an only child who is slight in stature, is forced to move to a small town during the summer - which, he points out, is the worst time to move as he knows no one and will be bored. His father, a word hound and creator of crossword puzzles, and his mother, a scientist, have never really involved themselves in Stuart's comings and goings. This lends itself perfectly to Stuart's situation when he happens upon a clue left for his father from Stuart's great-uncle Tony, a magician. Fortunately for Stuart, his father wasn't the 'right sort of boy' for the task; Stuart though, is just the sort of boy for this adventure in the seach for his great-uncle's workshop full of magic and mechanisms. Stuart will have to keep out of the prying eyes of the snoopy triplets next door, April, May, and June.

Full of mystery and fun and quirky characters, Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery, & a Very Strange Adventure is sure to delight the mid-upper level elementary readers. The scavenger hunt-like mystery Stuart embarks on is written clearly making it easy for the reader to solve along with Stuart. There are just the right amount and type of characters to make the story really come together. I imagine a child would love to read of Stuart's puzzles and clues and his dodging of prying eyes.

Really, fun stuff.