The Secret Life of Billie's Uncle Myron

An Alice in Wonderland-style plot and a madcap pace propel the reader through this wild adventure about a girl and her little brother who ride a Cadillac to a land where crows talk, motels fly and an evil leader named Kingfish tries to ply them with vats of pudding. Billie is bored because her parents, who are rock stars, leave her alone in hotel rooms as they do concert tours around the world. So she hides with Bix, her brother, in the back of her Uncle Myron's car-but she doesn't realize she'll end up in Borderland (""between where you came from and where you are going""), alone and as disoriented as Alice down the rabbit hole. Separated from Bix, she spends most of her time locating him (in the clutches of the perfidious Kingfish) and then rescuing him. With plenty of fizz and pizzazz, this story is as frenetic as a Saturday morning cartoon, complete with motorcyle-riding amphibians, dancing elephants and bizarre humans. Len Jenkin is an award-winning playwright, and Emily Jenkins is his daughter. This lushly colored crazy quilt of a fantasy is their first children's book. Ages 10-13. (Oct.)