What do Alan and Leonard discover while hunting for comic books in the novel, Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars?

When the boys go comic book hunting in the city of Hogboro, they discover some unusual bookstores and diners that start them on an adventure of selfdiscovery. They acquire from one store the books that help them to discover their powers of mentally influencing the actions of others and moving objects just by thinking. They even meet Clarence Yojimbo, experienced traveler among the different planes of existence, and learn that they too have the ability to travel among them. Pinkwater frequently writes about odd, often hard to find bookstores and gathering places; these invite readers to look through the outwardly dull cityscapes to find the abundance of colorful city life in constant but obscured activity around them.