"I can't believe how good this book is. . . . Wholly original. It's also perfect. . . . Wilson writes with such a light touch. . . . That's the brilliance of the novel--that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn't see coming." -- Taffy Brodesser-Akner, The New York Times Book Review

"A peculiar, entertaining and insightful book about the hazards of child-rearing and the value of friends." -- People

"[Wilson's] most perfect novel. Paradoxically light and melancholy, it hews to the border of fantasy but stays in the land of realism. . . . You can sense the real heat radiating off these pages. . . . This novel may seem slight and quirky, but don't be fooled. There's a lot to see here."
-- Washington Post

"It's a giddily lunatic premise, one that author Kevin Wilson grounds with humor and deadpan matter-of-factness. . . . Wilson's observational humor is riotous in its specificity. . . . The writing dazzles. . . . But what dazzles most are the warmly rendered dynamics of an ad hoc, dysfunctional family that desperately wants to work." -- USA Today

“There's hardly a sentence that feels like anything you've read before, that's how fresh his voice is. . . . Witty, confiding, breezily profane. . . . That the supernatural elements feel so right is a testament to Wilson's innate skill as a storyteller.” -- Entertainment Weekly

A pleasing blend of tartness and tenderness. . . . . Wilson's ability to capture such tangled sentiments makes him a thoroughly engaging and appealing writer. -- Boston Globe

Darkly funny yet quietly devastating. . . . Wilson crafts a stunning portrait of the push and pull of parenthood. -- Time

"Funny and even eerily beautiful. . . . It's the sweetness of this novel that will melt you." -- NPR.org

Perennially weird and wonderful. . . . Wilson's portrayal of these fire children conveys more emotional truth about life with a difficult or neurodivergent kid than any of those parenting guides. . . . Funny and affecting. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"[A] deadpan, hilarious modern fairy tale." -- Newsday

“Wilson's latest is outlandish and laugh-out-loud funny.” -- Parade

"Weird, funny, but also unexpectedly moving. . . . An affecting reflection on the blithe cruelty of the rich and what it means to be a good parent." -- Buzzfeed

"Quirky and insightful, strange and delightful." -- Popsugar

Kevin Wilson once again dazzles with a bizarre, comic, and heartbreaking tale. . . . A dryly comic, surreal phantasmagoria reminiscent of Kafka, Garcia-Marquez, and their heirs, from David Foster Wallace to Karen Russell. -- Chapter 16

"Wilson captures the wrenching emotions of caring for children in this exceptional, and exceptionally hilarious, novel." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Wilson is a remarkable writer.... A funny and touching fable about love for kids, even the ones on fire." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A love letter to the weirdness and difficulties of children and of parenting, with or without spontaneous human combustion. . . . [With] an easy, engaging voice, cynical and funny without being caustic. Like the author's The Family Fang, this is another story of a family that is as delightfully bizarre as it is heartfelt and true." -- Library Journal

"Lillian tells the story, revealing immediately that she's another of Wilson's normal extraordinary protagonists. . . . She fills the book with her wry humor and large, embracing heart." -- Booklist

"Laugh out loud funny. I love the way Kevin Wilson writes." -- Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award winner