The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin

244 pages

Mark Twain Nominee

Great book! About a group of middle schoolers involved in an all-day puzzle solving competition for the grand prize of $50,000 to go to the winner's school. Berlin set this up beautifully, involving the reader in almost all of the puzzles. For all of the puzzles the character comes across, the reader has the chance to solve it themselves, and flip back to the end of the book for the answer, or just continue reading. Add in a little romance, some cheating, this makes for an exciting read for middle schoolers.

(from jacket cover)

Puzzle addict Winston Breen and his best friends are off to an all-day puzzle hunt! There's a $50,000 grand prize for the winning team's school, and Winston is ready to play and ready to win. The puzzles are in surprising places like a planetarium and an amusement park, but the day is not all fun and games: along for the ride is a high-strung and highly competitive teacher. On top of that, there are plenty of tough competitors on the other teams and someone in the contest is playing dirty. If Winston wants to win, he'll have to do more than just solve all the puzzles-he'll have to stop the cheater before it's too late.