Heartfelt Hero: The Tick-Tock Man (Gadgets and Gears) by Kirsten Hamilton

Tick-Tock.

The sound was unsettling, and when you are with a Kennewickett, anything unsettling could spell disaster

My name is Noodles. It is my duty to keep Walter Kinnewickett, boy genius and scientist in training, as far from disasters as possible.

Which is why I found myself on a dark street corner in London.

Young Walter and his sometimes flying dachshund Noodles are in London with Wally's older sister Rhodope, a dedicated photographer and ardent British Suffragette. Amid the crowd at the ladies' march, Wally is singled out by a strange ragamuffin boy, Dobbin Winckles, equipped with what appears to be a gasoline powered, gyroscope-equipped monowheel. But before keen inventor Wally can study the machine in full, he notices a strange ticking sound. Then Dobbin delivers a sudden warning.

"Run, Kinnewickett," he whispered. "Leave London. Tick-Tock is out to nab you! He'll kill me if 'e knows I warned you."

But safe back in Rho's lodgings, Wally soon receives an urgent note from Dobbin, begging him to meet him late at night.

"NEED HELP.

Come to the Courtyard behind Chopin's Pub at midnight. It is a matter of life or death!"

Wally and Noodles learn that Dobbin's tiny sister Briney has a mechanical heart which must be rewound by a key now in the hands of the nefarious Tick-Tock, who the distressed Dobbins confides, has gone missing.

And soon Wally Kinnewickett, boy inventor extraordinaire and detector of evil geniuses worldwide, is off on a new case. Engaging the assistance of his friend, Sherlock Holmes, he and Noodles are off on a chase through the dark and dangerous sewers and steam tunnels beneath London in pursuit of Tick-Tock, master watchmaker and master criminal, reputedly equipped with a mechanical heart. No one, not Holmes nor Scotland Yard, knows who or what Tick-Tock is, but only that his metal heart gives off a tick-tock wherever he goes. With a nose-to-tail shiver Noodles realizes that he and Wally have already had a near encounter with Tick-Tock.

But there's nothing for it but that the inventive Wally and his intrepid dachshund head down into the dark underground below the foggy streets of London, dodging killer sewer swine (which Wally dispatches with pyrotechnic devices brought along for emergencies), and finding themselves allied with the infamous criminal Spring-Heeled Jack in the quest to capture Tick-Tock in time to save the, er, rundown and expiring Briney.

In her third book in series, Kersten Hamilton makes the most of late Victorian London as the setting for the forthcoming The Tick-Tock Man: Gadgets and Gears, Book 3 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2016), with fogbound streets and dark sewers, ravening subterranean boars, a giant mechanical creature, Cy (short for Cyborg), and plenty of the darkly inventive illustrations of James Hamilton portraying the steampunk science that has made the Gadgets and Gears books favorites of young middle reader science fiction fans.

Described by Kirkus Reviews as "Steampunk for the chapter book set," this unique series has plausible but eccentric inventions that presage those of later centuries, coupled with colorful characters and bizarre mysteries to be solved by the genius of Wally, who alone in his era intuits that steam has had its day and that the future belongs to electricity. As in the earlier books, which featured cameos by Teddy Roosevelt and Nicola Testa, Wally hangs out with one of the icons of the period, Sherlock Holmes. And as in the other books, this one is wittily narrated by Wally's wiener wonder dog Noodles, who is, in addition to his loyalty and courage, shares his extensive vocabulary freely (and often) with his readers.

Other books in the Gadgets and Gears series include The Mesmer Menace (Gadgets and Gears) and The Ire of Iron Claw: Gadgets and Gears, Book 2. (Read reviews here.)

A Mole at the Automaton Inn: The Ire of Iron Claw (Gadgets and Gears) by Kersten Hamilton

In a flash, I knew two things without a doubt.

The Dusketeers had shown me his evil purpose. And Gizmo's garbled "Waaaamussssnoooootllllll...k-k-k--!" clearly meant, "Walter must not launch his kite!"

I wheeled, wagging frantically in an attempt to reach the roof before Wally set the kite aloft. But I was too late.

The kite was racing skyward as my paws touched down next to Wally. I heard a harsh metallic clang, followed too quickly by a deafening explosion as the shock knocked Wally from his feet and sent me tumbling to the base of Tesla's tower.

"I told you he was going to blow something up," Mrs. McDivit announced as concerned citizens rushed past her. "Mad Mars has returned! Flee for your lives."

Despite the best efforts of loyal automatons--housekeeper Gizmo and the house-cleaning troop of rabbity Dusketeers-- and the services of his loyal flying dachshund Noodles, some evil force has attempted yet again to destroy boy inventor Wally Kinnewickett and his mentor, scientist Nicola Testa, the Wizard of the West, along with his magnum opus, the towering Atmospheric Electron Collector which will be capable of using the earth's magnetic field to generate endless electricity. Tesla has many powerful enemies--Thomas Edison, whose dream is that his direct current will power the world, and his rival advocating alternating current, George Westinghouse. But it is clear to Wally and his parents Calypso and Oliver Kennewickett that the explosion proves that their Automaton Inn has a mole, a person spying for Mad Madini, the master of mesmerism, and his evil henchmen, the Mesmers.

Noodles, whose wings are powered purely by his wagging tale, knows that if the Mesmers can overcome the Kennewickett's staff of electrically charged and programmed automatons, his purely doggy powers will be needed, and sure enough, as the family sets forth to apprehend Madini in Italy in their steam-powered airship the Daedalus, the flight is uneventful only until they set out across the Atlantic. First they are pursued by pirates, in a coal-powered, paddle-powered airship that manages to fire upon the Daedelus and cause a slow leak that threatens to bring them before they reach the water's edge in France.

"Gizmo!" Oliver called. "Speed and distance calculations?"

"We will make it to shore, sir," the automaton said.

"But what then?" asked Melvin.

"One conundrum at a time, dear." said Calypso. "Prepare to disembark."

I whirled to find myself face-to-face with a nightmare. An enormous spider was stepping over the tree. Its shovel-like palpi were waving wildly.

"Bonjour!" it boomed cheerfully. "Do you require assistance?"

Although the Kennewicketts are rescued from the privateers of the skies by their fellow French scientist, their troubles continue when Monsieur Fevre's eight-legged, coal-burning Arachne transport arrives to ferry them over the Alps to their destination.

But Noodles cannot rest easy, especially when they disembark. The city streets are infused with the smell of popcorn and there are far too many pigeons about for Noodles' mind to be at ease, remembering vividly as he does their last encounter with Madini and his automaton pigeon Iron Claw. And when they meet up with cousin Melvin's Grand Touring parents, Wentworth and Mame, Wally's aunt and uncle seem somehow not themselves.

"Why don't you stay awhile?" Wentworth said. "We'll hop right over to see the mayor."

"Hop?" Melvin asked.

"Strut. I mean, stroll. Lovely day for a stroll." He tilted his head and watched a bug scurry across the sidewalk.

"Mother! Are you both... quite well?"

"Of course, dear," the materfamilias said. "We're both in fine feather. Er, fettle."

Suspicions confirmed, Noodles gets ready to wag up his wings. He knows that there is another climactic struggle with Madini and Iron Claw in the works, in The Ire of Iron Claw: Gadgets and Gears, Book 2 (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2015).

In the second book in her series, the author takes her early twentieth-century electronic wizards into another quirky steampunk adventure. A creative look at what were thought at the time to be mad scientists, Kersten Hamilton builds this tale around the real persona of Nicola Tesla, whose work met with great disbelief in his time, but which has powered modern science into new inventions and even has an electric car corporation now named in his honor. As narrator, the power-wagging flying dachshund Noodles serves as both comic superhero and lexicographer for middle readers offering definitions of the most arcane of early twentieth-century terms. Saved again by Noodles' quick-wagging tail and courage, it looks as if Wally Kennewickett, with his family and friends Teddy Roosevelt and Nicola Testa, will probably have young readers as guests at the Automaton Inn yet another time in this continuing series.

Kersten Hamiton's first book, also wittily illustrated by James Hamilton, was The Mesmer Menace (Gadgets and Gears) (see my review here.)

Pigeon Peril: The Mesmer Menace (Gadgets & Gears) by Kersten Hamilton

WALTER'S HAIR WAS ALL STANDING ON END WHEN HE WOKE ME TO DEMONSTRATE HIS INVENTION.

"IT IS FINISHED, NOODLES," HE SAID, HOLDING UP A SMALL VEST WITH BAT-LIKE FOLDING WINGS.

I TRIED TO SHAKE THE SLEEP OUT OF MY EARS AS HE BUTTONED ME INTO IT.

"YOU'RE AMAZING!" WALLY SAID.

I WAGGED. THE WINGS FLAPPED UP AND DOWN!

"YOU CAN DO IT, BOY!"

MY WAGGER WENT WILD.  SUDDENLY, I CAME FULLY AWAKE TO FIND THAT I'D RISEN TO THE CEILING.

Dachshund Noodles believes that the problem is not with his loyalty, but his acrophobia.  I mean, not even a devoted dachshund can keep wagging when his wagger is all that keeps him aloft over an abyss!

But life is pleasant, if a bit wacky living with a family of eccentric inventors, until Wally Kinnewickett opens the door of the Automated Inn to a hobo and things take a turn for the outright bizarre.

"HOW CAN WE HELP YOU? " CALYPSO KINNEWICKETT ASKED THE HOBO KINDLY. "BREAKFAST, PERHAPS?"

"WE'VE NO TIME FOR THAT," THE HOBO SAID. HE TOOK OFF HIS COAT AND HAT.

WALLY GASPED. "THEODORE ROOSEVELT!"

MR. PRESIDENT!" OLIVER KINNEWICKETT EXCLAIMED. "WHAT AN UNEXPECTED HONOR!"

"THE COUNTRY NEEDS YOUR AMAZING BRAINS, KINNEWICKETTS," SAID THE PRESIDENT.

It seems a nefarious gang of magicians plan to use their powers to mesmerize the leaders of the country, gain mind control over them, and take over the nation, if not the world. T. R. urges Wally's parents, Calypso and Oliver, to turn their inventive minds to espionage to avert the coming catastrophe. The senior Kinnewicketts quickly pack and prepare to leave in disguise with the President, leaving Walter to manage their Atmospheric Electron Collector designed in collaboration with Nikola Tesla, aided by their staff of automatons, Gizmo the housekeeper, Knives the cook, and dozens of automated Dust Bunnies who keep the Automated Inn clean.

But no sooner do the President and his two new covert operatives disguise themselves and take the train to Washington, than the chief Mesmer of them all, in the form of the so-called Mr. Potts and his mustachioed assistant Mr. Slade, arrive at the Inn, pretending to be pop corn purveyors visiting to view Mrs. Kinnewickett's invention, the surplus electron corn popper.

But with them comes a peculiar pigeon, Iron Claw, who has one spinning eye capable of mesmerizing anyone who gazes at it. Wally soon sees through the ruse and invents for himself some special spectacles impervious to the pigeon's stare, while everyone else falls under its spell, even Wally's supercilious cousins Prissy and Melvin and the entire automatonic staff.  Wally realizes that he must get word to the telegraph office asking Mrs. Roosevelt to contact his parents to return and foil the plot, but with Potts and Slade watching his every move, the young Kinnewickett realizes that his only hope lies in Wally's wag-powered wings to carry the message to the town telegraph office. It's all up to Noodles' wagger to power his flight, but can a dachshund hampered by a deathly fear of heights manage a long flight and a sustained wag?

Kersten Hamilton's first in a projected series, The Mesmer Menace: Gadgets and Gears, Book One (Clarion Books, 2013), has all the trappings of sci fi fantasy adventure, a  pair of evil magicians, a family of famed wacky inventors who put the kabash on evil while perfecting an unlimited (and carbon-emission-free) source of electricity to power the world.  Wally is the quintessential kid genius inventor, and his dachshund Noodles is the, er, dogged narrator of this comedic introduction to the quirky Kinnewicketts for young readers who like their fantasy on the spoofy side.

"Steampunk with training wheels for the chapter-book set!" quips Kirkus Reviews.