The Mesmer Menace (Gadgets and Gears #1)

Noodles, a dry-humored dachshund, narrates this auspicious first book in the Gadgets and Gears series, set in 1902. Wally Kennewickett, the dog's young master and a "scientist in training," lives with his parents, world-famous inventors whose contraptions include a staff of automatons, windup dust bunnies to clean their hilltop inn, and a popcorn popper powered by lightning. When President Theodore Roosevelt recruits the elder Kennewicketts to help thwart the Mesmers, an organization of mind-controlling magicians intent on taking over the world, Wally is left to demonstrate the popcorn popper to a contingent of visiting vendors. As the villains infiltrate the gathering, Hamilton (the Goblin Wars trilogy) makes the comedic most of her premise, including a pigeon capable of hypnosis and a winged vest created by Wally that enables Noodles to fly. Wearing that invention, the acrophobic dog heroically foils the villains' ploy-for now. Noodles's antics and droll, mannered narration (on Roosevelt: "Everyone knew he had the courage of a corsair") make him the indisputable star of this show. 

Copyright 2013 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

A Winter 2013-14 Kids' Indie Next List pick

"Fast paced and funny, with plenty of alliteration and word definitions provided by Noodles, it carries hints of both Lemony Snicket's wordplay and the absurdity of M. T. Anderson's Pals in Peril series. . . . Young, precocious readers and older readers looking for a shorter read will enjoy this first title in the Gadgets and Gears series."
—Booklist

"[An] auspicious first book. . . . Hamilton makes the comedic most of her premise. . . . Noodles's antics and droll, mannered narration make him the indisputable star of this show."
—Publishers Weekly

"Steampunk with training wheels for the chapter book set. . . . Sly humor . . . nifty, gear-laden illustrations . . . [an] imaginative, engaging premise."
—Kirkus Reviews