The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson by Quinn Sosna-Spear

Walter lives to invent.  It's more fun than school, he watches his projects come to life and he thinks he might want to work with the biggest inventor around.  His father had worked with him.  One of his inventions took his life, though, and Walter's mom doesn't want him to invent things.  She doesn't want to lose him, too.  But his other choice is to be a mortician like she is and he doesn't want to do that...

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published on April 2nd.

When his mother makes him destroy all his inventions, he decides to leave home and find the inventor his father worked for.  He takes the family hearse, goes to pick up the one friend he has at school (she even decides to with him), and off they go.  They have several problems along the way.  With no money to speak of, they eat sparingly, only sleep when they have to, and inadvertently run into trouble.  There are cave people who look for magic rock and they stop to sleep right at one of their entrances.  Walter gets taken prisoner.  It takes some doing to get out of there.  The car falls over the cliff and they have no ride, so they are sent on their way with an invention his father made that travels through stone.  Once there, they make their goodbyes and continue on their journey.  The girl is looking forward to seeing the best doctor around.  Walter wants to meet the inventor.  But nothing turns out like they planned.

This is a good inventive story but it's a bit sad.  I wouldn't recommend it for someone under the age of 12.  Everyone learns a lesson in this story.  All in all, it was a good read.