Blaze N. Haught is a name that definitely makes us believe that the story will be filled with fast action and excitement, and Sir Licksalot and the Maverick Fools fulfills both these expectations.  When the Haught family moves from their big city condo to a beach house with a crazy water fountain in the back yard,  Blaze goes from having lots of friends and being the most popular fifth grader, to being  a loner whom the local kids tease and bully.  He makes friends with a stray dog, and names him Sir Licksalot. Blaze's parents consent to the adoption of the dog, but only if Blaze will make a serious effort to become friends with the kids at their new home.  Blaze agrees, but he's not sure how he will pull that off.

A housewarming and barbeque seems to be the perfect way to invite all the new neighbors and give Blaze a chance to make some new friends. Blaze challenges the boys to a basketball game, a sport in which he excels. He has a brand new court in his backyard so the neighborhood boys are anxious to try it out.  The girls and Sir Licksalot disappear into the backyard water fountain.  The boys decide that they must locate them; they too are pulled into the fountain and find themselves immersed in a strange adventure in an extreme water cave.  The boys learn each other’s secrets, strengths and weaknesses as they accept the challenges of the water park to locate the missing girls and Sir Licksalot.

The black and white illustrations add visual interest and the maps lay out the path of the maze in the extreme water cave. All ends well after the hair-raising quests in this fantasy-filled adventure. Death-defying action in a fast moving plot make this book hard to put down, and it is recommended to challenge the imagination of reluctant readers.