"David Grossman's delightful novel of adolescent initiation is a kind of contemporary urban fairy tale...In a style that is part comic-book adventure and part universal myth...His story of innocence transformed is so cleverly elaborated--and so touchingly true--that it is difficult not to cheer." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Lighthearted and funny, a book of enormous charm." --The New York Times

"This is a fantasy that delights, surprises, and reveals." --The Boston Sunday Globe

"This nimble picaresque variously suggests The Arabian Nights and Dr. Seuss in the glee with which it darts from one outlandish event to the next...Grossman explores universal concerns with wit and lightness." --The Village Voice