Ever Nicefolk, his wife, Ima, Lacey and her twin brother Casey live in Castroville, California (the place where artichokes come from) on an herb farm with their basset hound Floopy. One day, a traveler named Socuh Socup comes to the farm to ask for room and board in exchange for helping out on the farm. The Nicefolks agree (mostly I think because Floopy liked him right off the bat). Lacey notices right away that there is something extra-special about this traveler and his pony Mr. Periwinkle. First off, his name spelled backward is Hocus Pocus!

Working long into the night, the mysterious stranger built the children a magical gift that was able to transform everyday hum-drum toys into their real life counterparts. After building a model of the Wright Brothers plane, Casey and Lacey use the magical device and voila - Vin Fiz has come to life. Every step along the journey from Castroville to New York is an adventure. The twins save a town from robbers and gold thieves, warn a steamboat of a runaway barge, stop a runaway train and save two teenage girls from plummeting over Niagara Falls all while having a great time and enjoying the countryside!

The text is easy and suitable for any audience comfortable with chapter books. Written by Clive Cussler, most famous for his Dirk Pitt adventures, the story retains the carefree adventurous tone that make his books so fun to read.

I was however, irked by the heavy-handed treatment of new vocabulary such as

A crewman threw over a rope, and together Lacey and Casey jumped from Vin Fizand huffed and puffed as they lifted the heavy rope over a bollard, which is a metal post used to fasten towing and mooring lines. (A line by the way, is nautical talk for rope).

Great for kids who love planes, trains and travel - and those about to visit the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum as the real life Vin Fiz is there on display.