The Unbelievable Oliver and the Sawed-in-Half Dads is a story about a magician, his rabbit, and their wedding gig that goes humorously wrong. While this story at first seems entertaining, and the book’s premise of a disgraced magician’s rabbit helping a boy who aspires to be a magician reach his goal is promising, unfortunately, the story is not very well-executed. The characters take actions that are over-the-top silly, making them more unbelievable and caricature-ish than comedic. The plotline contains aspects that would fit in a sitcom, portions that feel like a tender family drama, and moments that are reminiscent of who-done-it mystery cartoons. These elements individually work, but they do not fit well together, and the story ends up feeling forced rather than having a comfortable flow. In addition, one of the characters in the book has a demeanor that is meant to be edgy and devil-may-care cool, but it really comes across as cartoonish; several references to things in that character’s history are meant to add to his mystique and bad boy personality, but  they are likely to instead add confusion to young readers who don’t necessarily understand what the references mean. This is a book that I would not recommend, as I don’t think that middle grade readers will find it very interesting.

Review of an Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Puffin

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  A joke about cannibalism; an animal bites a person; a character threatens another with a knife; report of a man knocked unconscious.

Sex/Nudity:  A few illustrations show two men kissing, hugging, and dancing together.

Mature Subject Matter:

Same-sex marriage is a major theme of this book; kidnapping; one character practices several forms of mysticism including astrology and paganism; bullying (mentioned); reference to gambling (past).

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A wedding reception contains a bar, and it is implied that alcohol is served for adults.