I recall reading a series of kids books where the main character was given a magic set he ket hidden away in the attic, IIRC. It might have been a chemistry set, perhaps. Either way, he’d turn to this kit for help whenever he was a jam…
Anyone else remember this series of books? It was not Danny Dunn, in the same genre of books. - Jinx
Could it be Scott Corbett’s series about a boy who is given a magic chemistry set? The first one is The Lemonade Trick and most of the following books have “Trick” in the title … The Baseball Trick, The Hairy Dog Trick, etc.
I am misrepresting Scott Corbett by confusing two of his titles – The Disappearing Dog Trick and The Hairy Horror Trick are two books, and in my previous post, I combined them into one title.
I tried, I really did, to walk away from this without posting a stupid correction that no one cares about anyway. But I couldn’t do it.
Around HERE? Are you kidding? Somebody would have swooped down and opened up a whole CAN a whoop-ass had you blithely mixed up those Corbett titles and not corrected yourself.
I remember reading some of those…didn’t the chemistry set ONLY figure in THE LEMONADE TRICK, and then the hero resorted to other things in the following books?
The chemistry set wasn’t “magic,” BTW…it was just really old, and the chemicals inside it had altered properties. The kid would read the instructions and think he was making pretty lavender colors in a test tube, and end up with invisibility formula or nuclear fusion.
There was also some crazy old lady who he’d run into in the park who would give him advice about how to deal with the weird hallucinogenic stuff he was creating.
Incidentally, the first review of THE LEMONADE TRICK on Amazon.com includes the following line:
“I love this book so much I wish I could have a cemesrty set I would be driking it evry day.”
Well, I can’t argue with that.
One theme that runs throughout the books is that no one is ever really quite clear on whether the chemistry set is magic or not. It is possibly magic, or possibly just really old and unpredictable chemicals, or possibly the boys really figure out how to solve various problems (bullys and what-not) on their own, but attribute it to the power of the chemistry set. The boys debate the “magic or not” question a few times.
The kooky old lady in the park, Mrs. Graymalkin, gives Kerby (the boy) the chemistry set, which used to belong to her son, as thanks for helping her when the heel of her shoe is caught in a drain. She has some spooky qualities herself, and the boys also sometimes wonder if she is magic or not.
As I recall, they use the chemistry set in most of the Trick books, Kerby keeps it in hidden away under a set of blocks in an old toy box. There are at least two where the chemistry set is more of a minor point and doesn’t come into the story very much.
Yup! That’s the series! T’anks a lot, doc! - Jinx
Wow… Scott Corbett… that takes me back.
Next thing you know, someone is going to be mentioning C B Colby and his series of “US Military stuff kicks a**” books
Wow, this is the third time in about five months that someone has brought up a favorite childhood book. I loved The Lemonade Trick and had no idea it was still in print.
Does anyone remember a kid’s book called The Mad Scientists Club? As I recall, they were always hanging around in their clubhouse figuring out wacky ways to use their talents while freaking out the local townspeople.
My favorite series as a child was “The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. That was some good reading, and well before the whole Harry Potter craze (and I’m sure those are good books too).