Mark Shulman

When eighth-grade school bully Tod and his friends get caught committing a crime on school property, his penalty--staying after school and writing in a journal under the eye of the school guidance counselor--reveals aspects of himself that he prefers to keep hidden.

Provides trivia questions and answers on a wide variety of topics, including emotions, sea life, disasters, and the globe.

"...explains the concept of choosing, individually, and as a group, from making a simple choice: "Which do you like better, apples or oranges?", to selecting a class pet, to even more complicated decisions, like electing community representatives." -- amazon.com

When Grandma Reagan introduces Robert (do not call him Bob) to the concept of anagrams, he realizes that they are everywhere--he is surrounded by word problems.

When Bob realizes that he is surrounded by palindromes, from his mom, dad, and sis Anna to his dog Otto, he discovers a way to deal with the palindrome puzzle.

When daydreaming Oscar forgets to tell everyone what to bring to the neighborhood picnic, he must work quickly to get everything they need for the picnic. With lightening-fast moves and fancy foot-work, he manages to shop for groceries, make the food, and put the games together.

Each of these optical illusions is a masterpiece of colorful design, with visual tricks to confound the mind and please the eye. Just don't trust anything you see at first glance, because it's impossible to judge spatial relations, or even the subject of a picture, accurately. In some cases, the colors themselves deceive the eye, making objects seem larger, smaller, faster, or even better looking than they really are. Hold onto your hat--two fancy...