The adventures of Vin Fiz Book

Clive Cussler authored adult fiction for more than forty years before his initial foray into children's literature with The Adventures of Vin Fiz in 2006. After launching his long-running Dirk Pitt series in 1973 with The Mediterranean Caper, Clive Cussler built a sterling reputation among adult adventure literates, but storytelling for kids demands a different level of attention to detail and character, a transition not all successful adult novelists are able to make. Cussler takes on that challenge in The Adventures of Vin Fiz, producing a sprightly juvenile adventure in the tradition of many children's favorites from the 1940s, '50s, '60s, and '70s, a rollicking nationwide odyssey with a heart for doing good that will appeal to young readers and their parents. This is an enjoyable little novel.

The magic starts when Ever and Ima Nicefolk and their ten-year-old twins Casey and Lacey accept a wandering old field-worker's offer to help harvest the crop on their California farm. The Nicefolks can't afford to pay the man, but he isn't looking for money, just a place to stay and food to fuel his labor. Sucoh Sucop, as the man says his name is, works diligently by day but keeps to himself in his room in the barn after dark, putting in countless hours on a project he keeps concealed from the Nicefolks. The day Mr. Sucop leaves the farm after harvest is ended, he reveals to Casey and Lacey his wonderful, magical completed project in the barn: a machine that can grow any toy to the size of its real-life counterpart and turn it functional. Mr. Sucop gives the machine to Casey and Lacey with a warning to use it only for good, and they commence experimenting as soon as Mr. Sucop hits the road. The miracle device transforms Casey's little toy airplane into a full-size aircraft, and after telling their parents they're going on a camping trip for a few days, Casey and Lacey take off in the plane Casey has christened Vin Fiz after his favorite soda brand, bound for New York City.

Increase in size isn't the only blessing bestowed by Mr. Sucop's invention. Casey's plane is enchanted now, and intuitively leads the twins to places their assistance is badly needed as they zoom cross-country to the Atlantic coast. With the help of Vin Fiz and kindhearted locals they meet along the way, Casey and Lacey become embroiled in all sorts of fantastic escapades, from freeing the kidnapped denizens of a western town, to foiling a train robbery in the wide-open Midwest, to rescuing a pair of girls about to plunge over Niagara Falls to their death. Using every ounce of bravery and determination at their disposal, the twins crusade for peace and justice as they travel the United States, never forgetting they're destined for New York City. It's an adventure extraordinaire, made possible for the twins because they welcomed a migrant farmworker into their lives. After exploring the country in Vin Fiz, they'll never see the world the same again.

Sucoh Sucop's gift to Casey and Lacey is a vehicle by which to take advantage of their own imagination and courage to go into the world and find their fate, but the imagination and courage was always theirs, courtesy of their childlike faith, humor, and attitude. That's why Vin Fiz is a gift only for the twins; their parents wouldn't be capable of appreciating the magic without skepticism. Casey and Lacey aren't to let anyone know about Sucoh Sucop's wondrous machine. "Not even your mother or father, or the spell will disappear, never to return. Love and cherish the secret and it will last until you're both grown up." Only as long as they remain children will the magic work for them, Sucoh Sucop says. "Then your dreams will take new directions, and the secret will fade in your mind and heart." The dreams of youth often do not carry through to adulthood, and perhaps that's the secret to having a good time with The Adventures of Vin Fiz: not questioning the narrative's logistics, but enjoying the fun while it lasts without expectation that everything be explained. Maybe that's what makes reading as a kid special, and this book captures that feeling of horizonless excitement.

I love Bill Farnsworth's sketch illustrations, and though Clive Cussler's jump to children's lit may not live up to his writing for adults, The Adventures of Vin Fiz is a nice story that has a lot going for it, including its setup for the sequel, The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy, released in 2010. What happens when Casey and Lacey grow a boat to take them on new adventures? I'll definitely read the book. I give The Adventures of Vin Fiz one and a half stars, and have no doubt there's an enthusiastic audience out there for it. I hope those readers find this novel and have much fun.