First published by E. P. Dutton, 1985 

After seeing a BBC report about seven terminally ill children from Britain granted a trip to Disney World, Elkin imagined it as an incredible idea for a novel but was wary of falling into the trap of sentimentality or emotional manipulation that such subject matter would invite. With George Mills behind him, he took up the challenge, and wrote what arguably could be called his masterwork, balancing pathos with humor, and magic with logic. “Because everything has a reasonable explanation” served as an ironic cause-and-effect mantra in a novel filled with absurdities, flawed natures, and life’s basic unfairness.