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Calamitous Adventures of Rodney & Wayne, Cosmic Repairboys #1
The Age Altertron
Thirteen-year-old twins Rodney and Wayne McCall and their friend Professor Johnson are the only people in Pitcherville who can see that all the natural laws of the universe have stopped applying to their town. When everyone in Pitcherville wakes up twelve years in the past, baby Rodney and baby Wayne must locate the Professor and find a way to get back to the present.
The first in an exciting new series from the beloved author of Ella Minnow Pea.
The first in an exciting new series from the beloved author of Ella Minnow Pea.
149 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
About the author
Mark Dunn
66 books209 followersMark Dunn is the author of several books and more than thirty full-length plays, a dozen of which have been published in acting edition.
Mark has received over 200 productions of his work for the stage throughout the world, with translations of his plays into French, Italian, Dutch and Hungarian. His play North Fork (later retitled Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy when it was picked up for publication by Samuel French) premiered at the New Jersey Repertory Company (NJRC) in 1999 and has since gone on to receive numerous productions throughout the U.S.
Mark is co-author with NJRC composer-in-residence Merek Royce Press of Octet: A Concert Play, which received its world premiere at NJRC in 2000. Two of his plays, Helen’s Most Favorite Day and Dix Tableaux, have gone on to publication and national licensing by Samuel French. His novels include the award-winning Ella Minnow Pea, Welcome to Higby, Ibid, the children’s novel The Calamitous Adventures of Rodney and Wayne, Under the Harrow and Feral Park.
Mark teaches creative writing and leads playwriting seminars around the country, in addition to serving as Vice President of the non-profit PULA (People United for Libraries in Africa), which he founded with his wife, Mary, in 2002.
(modified bio courtesy of http://njrep.org/playwrights.htm)
Mark has received over 200 productions of his work for the stage throughout the world, with translations of his plays into French, Italian, Dutch and Hungarian. His play North Fork (later retitled Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy when it was picked up for publication by Samuel French) premiered at the New Jersey Repertory Company (NJRC) in 1999 and has since gone on to receive numerous productions throughout the U.S.
Mark is co-author with NJRC composer-in-residence Merek Royce Press of Octet: A Concert Play, which received its world premiere at NJRC in 2000. Two of his plays, Helen’s Most Favorite Day and Dix Tableaux, have gone on to publication and national licensing by Samuel French. His novels include the award-winning Ella Minnow Pea, Welcome to Higby, Ibid, the children’s novel The Calamitous Adventures of Rodney and Wayne, Under the Harrow and Feral Park.
Mark teaches creative writing and leads playwriting seminars around the country, in addition to serving as Vice President of the non-profit PULA (People United for Libraries in Africa), which he founded with his wife, Mary, in 2002.
(modified bio courtesy of http://njrep.org/playwrights.htm)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 22, 2023
Cute. Could be suitable for a young audience.
December 22, 2016
This book more suited to tween set.
October 11, 2012
Entertaining book one of twins Rodney and Wayne’s adventures begins in a small town full of crazy and unexpected events. In an alternate 1956 world, the boys team up with Professor Johnson to save the town and set things right every time a new and oddly hilarious calamity arises. The residents are helped captive by a force field while unknowns conduct odd experiments on the town, often with results wildly unexpected by the residents. Thankfully, the twin apprentices of cataclysmic science and the professor work together to construct contraptions to cure the town of each experiment. Each chapter opens with an amusing and creatively written heading, teasing the reader with what is about to occur. The book has much to amuse the reader, including class bullies who try to take over the town, toddlers with the mental maturity of a teenager and a world where everything is temporarily the color peach. With a cast of characters and friends working together to save the town and a satisfying ending will make readers wish for the next book in the series.
May 4, 2011
I have to hurry to read this to see if it fits the Time Warp theme better than The Magic Half. FORGET THAT!
This book was not good! The author showed instead of told. It's another example of a "children's book" written for adults. Sometimes it can work out a bit, as in Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys,but in this case it was like nostalgia masturbation--awkward all around. Dunn should just sell his ideas to someone else, say Sciezka or even Mary Pope Osborne, for christsakes, to do a better job. Ugh! I'll give you one more chance with Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn, but that's all you get. They let him write a sequel to Rodney & Wayne too. As my brother says . . ."I weep for the children".
This book was not good! The author showed instead of told. It's another example of a "children's book" written for adults. Sometimes it can work out a bit, as in Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys,but in this case it was like nostalgia masturbation--awkward all around. Dunn should just sell his ideas to someone else, say Sciezka or even Mary Pope Osborne, for christsakes, to do a better job. Ugh! I'll give you one more chance with Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn, but that's all you get. They let him write a sequel to Rodney & Wayne too. As my brother says . . ."I weep for the children".
April 14, 2010
First children’s book from the author of Ella Minnow Pea, one of the few book club books I still remember fondly. A little old-fashioned and a little slow-paced (the book is set in 1956) but the premise is great: someone---or some thing?---has placed a force field over the town of Pitcherville, which has since been plagued with a series of unfortunate events, some more serious than others. Having everything turn peach-colored isn't so awful, but how about having everyone wake up eleven-and-a-half years younger??? (Thus making our heroes mere toddlers.) Inventive and lots of fun!
October 19, 2009
Cute but not great. Mark Dunn is such a word guy and very inventive but this is maybe a little less inventive than usual. Rodney and Wayne live in a weird town where things constantly go wrong (e.g. the whole town turns peach; everyone's age goes backwards by more than eight years) and the twins and the Professor are constantly putting things back to rights. Will there be a volume 2 soon? I'm such a fan of Mark Dunn that I will still have to read it!
May 4, 2010
In a small, mid-twentieth century town that is secretly being used as a laboratory, thirteen-year-old twins Rodney and Wayne and their physicist friend, Professor Johnson, face a series of calamities including a time experiment that sends the boys from infancy to old age in just a few days.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews