Shhh. I have to tell you that Max isn't my real name and I am a librarian - University of South Carolina, class of 1974. While I did take the oath to support world domination by librarians, I later vowed to use my powers for good. To that end I want everyone to read this important book. The librarian agenda must be exposed.

Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand on his thirteenth birthday with a note saying that it is from his mom and dad. Alcatraz doesn't know his parents, having been raised in the foster care system. He has moved from family to family due to his ability to break things. Not just break things, destroy things. In short order, he sets the kitchen on fire, is prepared to be sent to a new foster home, and the sand is stolen by an agent of the evil librarians.

 A man claiming to be his grandfather, Leavenworth Smedry later rescues Alcatraz and enlists him to help recover the sand which has valuable, though unknown, powers which would help the evil librarians take over the rest of the world. It turns out that the librarians control all information sources and there are other continents, the Free lands, of which those of us dwelling in the librarian dominated Hushlands (our known world) are unaware. In spite of his confusion (no one really explains anything to him) Alcatraz is up to the task of recovering the sands even if it means infiltrating the heard of enemy territory, the public library.

This is a fun and funny book. The author takes jabs at writing and writers and the conventions of adventure, romance, and fantasy stories. Along the way he works in some pointed comments about information and the control of information. He would like his readers to evaluate information, where it comes from, and the implications of one entity controlling information.

"People go along with what they're told," Bastille said. "Even intelligent people believe what they read and hear, assuming they're given no reason to question."

"He taught that the world is too strange a place --that it needs to be ordered, organized, and controlled." "...Controlled by those who supposedly know better," Bastille said. "Librarians."

This is a smartly written young adult fantasy and I recommend it highly. The ending sets the stage for a sequel and it can't come too soon for me.