AVRIL CRUMP AND HER AMAZING CLONES
by Angela Woolfe
Dr. Avril Crump has never been the standout scientist at Leviticus Laboratories. It doesn’t help that since the human-cloning scandal of Dr. Blut 15 years ago, Leviticus has been more interested in regulations than science. It also doesn’t help that her supervisor Dr. Wetherby wants so desperately to join the board of directors that he’ll step on anyone, especially if it impresses the lovely, mysterious Dr. Sedukta. During an argument in Blut’s old lab, Crump and Wetherby cause an explosion that gives life to three mixed-up clones: a talking dog named Augustus, the Elizabethan-tongued Bonaparte, and the mostly normal girl Edna. To Avril, they’re friends. To Wetherby, they might be his ticket to the Board. To Dr. Sedukta, who happens to work for the evil genius-in-hiding Dr. Blut, they’re just what her employer needs to complete his experiments. Slapstick, mayhem, violence and elementary-school musicals ensue. First in a new modern fantasy series, this British import is of the same cloth as works by Philip Ardagh and Roddy Doyle. Not much for logic, plausibility or character development, this debut is quirky enough to keep pages turning. Not a first purchase, but worth a look. (Fiction. 9-12)