After reading the books in this series, you'll never forget the smell of wet sneakers, and you'll secretly run off and buy yourself a chemistry set in the hope of something magical happening. I loved these books as a kid.

Am I the only one who knows of these books? As a young boy (9 or 10) I read the whole series about witchcraft and baseball. Even inspired me to join little league. If you get the chance, get these books to read for yourself or your children!

I've just read this book. It is wonderful! The plot is cool. Two boys come on an island to their aunt's house. One of them has a book that the second one reads. It says that 200 years ago there was a murder and a curse on this island, and the ghosts will show in a few days. Our two heroes, togrther, try to see the ghosts, and solve the mystery of murder. Great book!!!

If you have a child under 12, read this tale of twists and turns. Kerby Maxwell and his brainy pal Fenton once again turn to the mysterious Mrs. Graymalkin and her seemingly magical chemistry set. Everything goes wrong in their plans, but all turns out rosy, with everyone a bit wiser.

Covering topics as diverse as National Policy, Electronic Commerce and Education, this book provides valuable insights into information technology in the Asia Pacific region. The editors have achieved a useful and interesting book by bringing together papers from authors with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Dr. Pitmans book was very well written. It made me understand the whole process behind Liposuction and it does not make me feel afraid to embark on that journey if I ever need it in the future. A very intelligent man with lots and lots of enthusiasm and professionalism.

All I have to say is "wow". This novel is, as was stated in The Houston Post, a "table-turning yarn." My tables were certainly turned, over and over again. Corbett's mastery of the thriller genre has put such writers as Ludlum and King to shame. This post-apocolyptic tale of neo-classical stamps and "post"-moderism should be put up on a lofty pedestal with other authors such as Kant, Sartre and Bongo. The character of Fox-Face is reminicent of Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov and Byron's Child Herald, reborn and recast in a powerful new light. Just to give a taste of the brilliant workings of this literary giant, let us take a look at a passage of this luminous and effervescent work:

And I quote:
"He could never bear to have his glasses."
I have to pause...it is too much for my mind to absorb in one sitting.
"He could never bear to have his glasses anything but spotless and gleaming. This was not because he was fussy about dirt. It was merely part of his burning desire to see everything as clearly and as well as possible. Furthermore, whenever he became excited about anything his face grew red and hot, and that made his glasses mist over."

This is an obvious reference to Henry James' Glasses', specifically Chapter 11

"The future in short assumed a new complexion for him when
looked at through the grim glasses of a bride who, as he had said
to some one, couldn't really, when you came to find out, see her
hand before her face."

The idea of knowledge being obscured, despite the apparent magnifier of the "glasses" or whatever the sexual metaphor may be. This is but a taste of what Corbett is offering his readers. I leave the rest to you.

Its wellwritten and funny.my favorite part of the book was when kerby got his chemistry set.Also when kerby hit bumpson the head with his sword.Kerby bent bump hat.

Ah yes, those were much simpler times, when you could write a book that involved making magic potions with a chemistry set and drinking them or placing them in a lemonade vat... and not worry about getting sued. I'm curious - does the book come with a warning now? Or has the story been edited to reflect safer lab practices? Of course, to this end, few chemistry sets include anything that'll kill you anymore, either (justifiably so, I guess).

All cynical humor aside, this is a terrific children's book. The rest of the series is well worth tracking down, also.

Oh happy day! For years I've been trying to remember enough about these books to track them down, and now a search engine has done it for me. I read this series of "Trick" books probably in their first printing and adored them. Now that I have children of my own, I've been trying to figure out how to describe them to a librarian in order to track them down. Now with a few clicks, here they are! I only hope they all come out in an affordable format soon. Kerby may not be the original Harry Potter, but I can't wait to re-read all of these. Yippee!

BOOK REVIEW

Can Roger solve the case or will the silver skull be gone forever?

This mystery book was about a boy named Roger who was invited to a silver home-tour. Roger was in charge of the guest book. He was also to keep track of suspicious-looking people on the tour. Roger became over anxious when he spotted two men who he thought might have stolen the silver skull. He soon found to that he and made a mistake as far as they were concerned but then became suspicious again. Roger himself overheard an egg customer of his own, Colonel Byrd, discussing the silver skull, which had belonged to Mrs. Hargrove but had recently disappeared. Roger began to investigate and started following the Colonel.

When he gathered enough information, he notified the police but not before getting involved in close call with the Colonel and his gang. The police were finally able to pin the theft on the Colonel.

Roger was congratulated and he went home to rest in his office tree house.

The plot of the book was about the theft of the silver skull from Mrs. Hargrove's house and how the crime was solved and who did it.

I liked the book because it kept the thief a secret until the end and it was easy to follow.

This book was so exciting. I have never read any of Corbett's books before, but this definetly got me hooked.This book was so funny. I loved Mrs. Graymilkens character. I loved this book, I hope he keeps writing books with the same characters.

I always thought this was the lamest one in the series. The plot and the entire tone are so goody two-shoes - straight outta "Leave it to Beaver". No Mrs. Graymalkin in this one, either - she provided the slightly subversive undertones that were the best part...

The main characters in this book are Kerby and Kerby's cousin,Gay. In the beginning it tells that it is Kerby's birthday and every year Kerby gets a package in the mail from his Great-aunt Cora. It is no ordinary present that a boy or a girl would want for their birthday. Once he got some socks and stiff hairbrushes, hankerchiefs,and a shoeshine kit. But this year he got some stationary paper to write with and some stamps and envelopes to mail letters with. In the middle of the book Kerby has written two sorry notes to Mrs. Pembroke, Kerby's next door neighbor because Kerby accidently sprayed Mrs. Pembrokes Cat Xerxes. He also wrote a letter to Bumps Burton the big bully. The reason why he also had to write Bumps a sorry note was because Kerby had done something bad to Bumps that Bumps did not like. The letters that Kerby wrote were not nice letters. Mrs. Pembroke had told Kerby that she would call the police if he did something else bad to her cat. Kerby wrote in part of the letter to Mrs. Pembroke that he hoped she would get sent off to jail with her cat, Xerxes. He told Bumps some things that weren't nice. He didn't mail the letters he put them in his desk drawer. When he came back to his room to read the letters because they were so funny the letters were gone. He asked his cousin Gay if she had done anything with them. She said that she put them in the mailbox down at the corner. At the end of the book Kerby has a plan for Gay and him to try to get the letters back when they get delivered to Bumps and Mrs. Pembroke. If you want to find out more about this book and the secret plan you should get this book. I thought the book was good. I read it really fast. The author of this book is Scott Corbett. He has written lots of other books also.

JLK Redmond, Washington