Eric Berlin

Puzzlesnacks More than 100 Clever, Bite-Sized Puzzles For Every Solver by Eric Berlin
Starts with a table of contents with chapters of intro, puzzles, hints and answers.
Intro talks about how this book was created with help from his daughter.
Everyday words and some twists make this a good brain games, shortened from the size of NY Times daily puzzles, just a snack.
I like the different layouts and how to work the puzzles is given prior to the puzzles.
This would be a perfect book for an older child to bring on the plane because you need a bit of concentration but you'd be moving along at a good speed, solving the puzzles.
Extra content included at the end. Looks very complicated when you first open the book and glance through the pages, patience it is very easy and simple to solve the puzzles.
A KEEPER!
Received this review copy from Tiller Press via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
#Puzzlesnacks #NetGalley… (mehr)

An almost-perfect chapter book for kids in 3rd-7th grade. The title character is amusing and has the usual issues...an annoying sister, following directions at home, and hanging out with fun pals. He also has an insatiable urge and ability to solve puzzles. Each chapter has actual puzzles that the reader can solve as well, with answers provided in the back of the book. In this first book of three, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen, Winston finds himself in a group of adults trying to find a treasure possibly worth millions. The clues take him around town and interacting with a variety of characters. I was not expecting the ending to become quite so serious, but it wraps up nicely. I'm happy to know there are two more books to read in this series.… (mehr)

Fun book combining the puzzles of Encyclopedia Brown with the long-form story like the Hardy Boys. It's aimed at the pre-teen set, although the younger end of readers (say, 7- or 8-year-olds) might find one scene where Winston's family is held hostage a bit terrifying. The book is filled with brain teasers, few of which have much relation to the plot. I look forward to reading the next two books in the series (especially for the humor of wise-guy Malcolm!).

I had two quibbles with the book, though. The first was that one of the final mysteries required remembering something written about in barely a single paragraph earlier in the book; that seemed a little unfair. The second I'll preface with spoiler tags, although I don't think I'm giving anything from the plot away: Late in the book, a letter is found, addressed to the four children of Mr Fredericks, except they are not listed in birth order -- instead, it's the youngest, who also happens to be the one child we know, followed by the others in birth order. That just seemed very strange to me. If I'm at the target age for this book, I suspect I would have noticed the first quibble, but I doubt I would have noticed the second.

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LT Haiku:

Kid-friendly book of
puzzles that takes place in a
town-wide treasure hunt.… (mehr)