Last of the Gullivers (review)

Twelve-year-old Michael is headed for a life of gangs and thuggery until a dust-up with the law brings him to the backyard of one Lemuel Gulliver; there a miniature town and its pint-sized residents give Michael's life new direction. Gulliver introduces Michael to the Lesser Lilliputians as their next guardian, and the young boy takes to his new duties with enthusiasm, repairing fire-damaged buildings, helping the residents construct a new town center, and fending off the latest invasion of weasels. When Gulliver takes off, however, Michael's old gang life catches up with him and he finds himself in juvenile hall, leaving the little people vulnerable to murderous rodents and scheming gang members. Specific knowledge of Swift's Gulliver's Travels isn't necessary, but readers will need some pretty sophisticated sensibilities to get Crocker's adult-oriented humor, including allusions to grand poobahs and macguffins; indeed, most of the satirical elements of the Lilliputians' society have the potential to fly over the heads of the book's target audience. Michael's story, however, works well as a tale of redemption, and his transformation from a lost and neglected nobody to a thoughtful, devoted caretaker of an entire village is heartwarming. The slew of action in the last thirty pages or so helps compensate for a slow start, so readers who stick it out will be duly rewarded by an exciting chase and a happy ending.