Like all Raskin novels, Figgs & Phantoms is filled with interesting, humorous characters. For example, Mona's cousin Fido Figg, star pitcher of the baseball team, was adopted by dog-loving Figgs to replace an old bull terrier and raised on Ken-L-Ration. Uncle Truman, exHuman Pretzel and now a misspelling sign-painter, makes beautiful, fancy posters all of which contain errors.

Uncle Remus conducts a worldwide travel service which frequently takes people to nonexistent or dangerous places.

The best developed characters are Mona; her tap-dancing, perpetually cheerleading mother Sister Figg; Uncle Flo; and the would-be pirate Miguel de Caprichos. As the source of Mona's first perception about human relations, Miss Quigley, the librarian, is also important.

Sister Figg is the humorous heart of the novel. Only she has the audacity to invent a historic holiday for which no public records exist and then teach every man, woman, and...