One night Mateo sees a couple of skunks stealing his old tricycle. Of course no one believes him. His family thinks he has hidden the tricycle so his little sister won't get it. So Mateo finds the skunks and discovers they talk! 

Mateo is also having problems at school. His old best friend Johnny has moved on and become friends with the class bully. Mateo has befriended Ashwin, but they are kind of loaners at school. They are both interested in knights and medieval weaponry though. 

Mateo and Ashwin and little sister Maya discover what the skunks have been up to. They are in a territory war with the local raccoons (who don't talk). The kids help the skunks in their war and learn a little bit about themselves in the process.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would and it generated a lot of good discussion in book group. The kids loved it. I wish we would have found out why the skunks talk, but that was never explained. I really enjoyed Mateo and Maya's relationship and thought his school issues were very realistic. I wasn't really sure why his parents immediately thought he had hidden the bike and done some neighborhood mischief. There was nothing in his backstory to indicate he was a troublemaker so it didn't make sense that his parents would automatically assume he was the culprit. Other than that little quibble it was a great read and lots of fun.