Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales [Paperback]

M. T. / Cyrus, Kurt (Illustrator) Anderson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Paperbacks (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152053948
• ISBN-13: 978-0152053949
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

M. T. Anderson is the author of The Game of Sunken Places, Burger Wuss, Thirsty, and Feed, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars funny and random, December 21, 2008

By 

Melissa Sack (georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales (Paperback)

Lily is just a normal girl. Her best friends are anything but normal. One is Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut. He can invent anything! Her other best friend is a super hero that has her own series of book and active fan club. Lily leads a normal life until one day she visits her father's office as part of a school assignment. While there she makes a startling discovery! Her father's company is making stilts for evil robotic whales that plan to take over the word. It's all up to Lily and her friends to save the day! This book reminded us of the Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" stories. It's very random and full of humor!

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun book for kids, September 30, 2011

By 

Phyllis H. Wheeler "Phyllis Wheeler" (Saint Louis, Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales (Paperback)

This book was the first in the popular Pals in Peril series and got a lot of awards, including the Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book. My daughter loves these books and wanted me to read this one.

Lily accompanies her father to work for Career Day, sees his workplace in an abandoned warehouse (complete with secret laboratory), and soon suspects that her father's working for someone who wants to take over the world. Her dad, though, is oblivious to all the clues around him. She enlists her friend Katie Mulligan, herself the heroine of a book series, and Jasper Dash, a techno-savvy hero of a book series from the 1950's. But this is Lily's book. She's the one who does most of the thinking and figuring out.

It takes some thinking and figuring out to connect the dots on the wild and wacky stuff that's going on. All the adults are oblivious to the danger posed by a bad guy with a grudge against the world, who mysteriously dumps buckets of brine on himself and wears a burlap sack over his head all the time. Jasper earnestly tries to come to the rescue with vintage machines, such as the photocopier powered by a mule, and the rocket car that might go as fast as 35 miles an hour.

Will there be an invasion of whales on stilts? If so, will Lily and friends be able to thwart the invasion?

What do I think? I thought this book was very silly and fun, and even had some suspenseful parts. The characters are well-drawn, and I enjoyed that. Jasper, the gadget guy who's a flop, is particularly funny.

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious story, September 7, 2010

By 

Bruce Hale (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales (Paperback)

Is there any type of story MT Anderson can't pull off? Whales on Stilts is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. His droll asides, the deadpan humor, and extreme situations make this a tale that reluctant readers will gobble up!