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With landmarks including "Forbidden Hut" and "Gorilla Hill" (a mound of dirt), Hokey Pokey is a Neverland-like world peopled by children characterized as "Newbies," "Snotsippers," "Sillynillies," and "Gappergums." Spinelli's allegory of Childhood Lost can be alienating in its improvisatory nature, with stream-of-consciousness run-on sentences and made-up words. Some readers may thrill to the narrative style, just as others will find it impenetrable.