Bob Fulton is a boy inventor. His latest invention is something he calls the Soda Pop Stretcher, which is able to turn 1 bottle of soda into about 50 (that is, with the help of some miscellaneous ingredients, plenty of water and 50 pounds of sugar!). He's the most popular kid in his neighborhood until the Stretcher unexpectedly explodes, coating the inside of the garage with sticky, foul-smelling goo!!

Bob's father, a delightfully ridiculous character who is the town's ferryboat captain (he wears an eye patch over his perfectly good eye, stomps around on his healthy left leg like he's got a peg leg and is fond of whale blubber steaks and hardtack), decides that enough is enough. Bob should clean up the mess, give up inventing and join him on the ferryboat for the rest of the summer.

However, this book is subtitled "An International Spy Story", and it doesn't take long for Bob to discover something interesting about the gummy goo from his blown-apart pop stretcher: it totally eliminates friction! This means that any machine parts it's applied to (his sister's bicycle, for example-it was in the garage when the pop stretcher went kablooie) now will run practically by itself because the slowing effects of friction have been eliminated. Once this substance-called Ingredient Zeta-reaches the local scientific research community, it's only a matter of time before sneaky, international spies are hot to get their hands on some of the good stuff!

I was first turned on to this book back in the late 70's in fifth grade when a girl I had a crush on presented it to the class as a book report. Out of loyalty to her (or perhaps so we'd have something mutual to talk about), I read it and was immediately hooked. I have reread it about 8 or 10 times more since then, enjoying it more and more each time.

Bob's adventure starts off innocently enough (if you can call an explosion in the garage "innocent"!!), but soon he's embroiled in groundbreaking research in physics with a professor who speaks about 30 different languages...at the same time! Soon spies are lurking about the house trying to steal the secret formula, the science research lab is constructing a HUGE model of the stretcher, the world goes through a sudden sugar crisis, and automobile manufactures are in a panic because cars will no longer wear out!! (this was a wonderfully funny touch that, as a child, I had totally missed).

"Bob Fulton..." is, of course, out of print. This is a terrible shame because it's as funny and gripping NOW, in 2001, as it was back in the 70's at the time of its publication. Somehow it got unfairly passed by while other great works from that time period went on to be printed over and over again. It's an easy read, a great choice for intermediate readers, and with an explosion within the first 15-odd pages, it's sure to hook even reluctant readers in!! Highly recommended; track this one down!!