This zany and generous treasury combines scores of games, jokes, puzzles, comics, and crafts in one portable collection. It provides countless hours of entertainment to liven up even the rainiest afternoon. Among the brainteasers and funny-bone ticklers are riddles, optical illusions, and other baffling brain bogglers such as Wacky Spoonerisms and Animal Ducktionary; astonishing did-you-know facts; amazing magic tricks; yummy things to make and eat like Gross-out Gummi Worms and Martianmallows; and easy-to-follow games and activities like Silly Kid Tricks, Windy Indy 500, Silent Movie Sound Effects, and Gerbil Jailbreak. Significant educational aspects are cleverly integrated throughout the book.
Helaine Becker is the bestselling writer of children's fiction, non-fiction and verse. Her Scholastic chapter book series, the Looney Bay All-Stars, has sold over 170,000 copies to date. She also is a two-time winner of the Silver Birch Award; for Boredom Blasters in 2006, and Secret Agent Y.O.U. in 2008. The Insecto-Files has been shortlisted for 2010.
In addition, she is in high demand as a presenter and performer at schools across North America. She has twice been selected for the Canadian Children's Book Week Cross Country tour, travelling to both Yukon and Nunavut to present to school children. She has been a featured speaker at the Frye Festival in New Brunswick, Aloud International Children's Festival in Ontario, Weaving Words Conference in Alberta, Literacy for Life Conference in Saskatchewan, and the Red Cedar Awards in British Columbia. She was also a featured speaker at the 2009 Orange County Children's Book Festival in Costa Mesa, California.
A New York native, she has lived in Toronto for more than 20 years. She has been on the executive board of CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Children's Authors and Illustrators), and is a member of the Writers Union of Canada. She is married with two teenage sons and has the cutest dog in the world, Ella.
