Customer Reviews

The Stonking Steps

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3 T Phantom Toll Booth
1 1/4 C Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1/2 tsp Rudolf
1/2 C Wizard of Oz
Pinch of "Gingerbread Man"
Dash of "Hansel & Gretel"
Unlimited Imagination

Blend well. Sit back and read. The results should resemble this story.

At 9, I disliked "The Phantom Toll Booth." This book reminds me a little of that story. "The Stonking Steps" is like an amalgam of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland;" "The Phantom Toll Booth;" "Rudolf;" "Pinocchio" and "The Wizard of Oz." Short version - Justin, 7 is sent to live with his Aunt Doris and Uncle Roger. The boy's mother takes off for a trip to Cancun and he holds out hope that he'll rejoin her. The boy's aunt fusses at him and punishes him over trifles. One day he disobeys her order to come back straight from a store. Instead, he cuts through a park and woods and lands in a paracosm; a parallel universe or alternate reality. One of the stops in his paracosm is a town called Cookieapolis with edible homes and residents; (Gingerbread Man and Hansel & Gretel); a villain with a castle who turns boys into rocking horses ("Pinocchio!"). A marionette named Paco yearns to be sent to Carlotta, a girl in Mexico who will appreciate him and not the cast aside plaything of a spoiled rich girl named Lucy. (the awful 1964 marionette movie "Rudolf" resonates here - remember that depressing island of unwanted toys?) The ogre and the Christmas run with Santa delivering toys to those most deserving hollers "Rudolf!" at you.

I thought this would be a novel about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, but was disappointed that instead it was a Toll Booth-Rudolf-Oz-Wonderland-fairy tale-Pinocchio like fantasy instead.

Bottom line is he comes in contact with all kinds of implausible creatures; the pretense of Santa's existence is maintained and after some more odd twists and turns in this paracosm, Justin's issues are neatly ironed out.

What makes this story distinct is that the author has autism. For those who say people with autism lack imagination, you are talking through your hats. Although I didn't care for this book, I'm sure many others will love this spun sugar fantasy. This book is proof positive that people with autism have gifted, vivid imaginations.