Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed — Michael J. Rosen

Malcolm is in all ways an ordinary ten-year-old. This is a perfectly ordinary story featuring one perfectly ordinary ten year old, his very bossy uncle, some baked beans, a school which tries to make interesting things BORING, the famed Italian city of Ponky, and a genie who appears when you rub your nose. It also includes lots of very useful facts, many of which are untrue.