Gadgets and Gears Series
“Fast paced and funny, with plenty of alliteration and word definitions provided by Noodles, it carries hints of both Lemony Snicket’s wordplay and the absurdity of M. T. Anderson’s Pals in Peril series… . Young, precocious readers and older readers looking for a shorter read will enjoy this first title in the Gadgets and Gears series.” —Booklist
The Mesmer Menace
Welcome to the Amazing Automated Inn, home of twelve-year-old inventor Wally Kennewickett, his genius scientist parents, and his dashing dog, Noodles. From the lightning harvester on the roof to the labs full of experiments in the dungeon, the inn is a wonderful place for a curious boy and his loyal dog to live. That is, until President Theodore Roosevelt himself calls the elder Kennewicketts away, leaving Wally and Noodles to face the evil Mesmers, horrible hypnotists bent on controlling the minds of powerful people. It seems the inn is their first stop on the way to world domination . . . and only an ingenious boy, a staff of automatons, and a brave dachshund stand in their way!
The Ire of Iron Claw
The evil magicians called the Mesmers are still plotting to take over the world, and the Kennewicketts, recently recruited into the spy business by President Roosevelt, are at the center of the battle for world domination. Now the Amazing Automated Inn has been compromised: someone is smuggling secrets out of the lab and selling them to unscrupulous sorts in Italy. Worse, their friend Nikola Tesla’s latest invention—a device that will provide a limitless and free source of electrical power for all—has been sabotaged.
The Tick-Toc Man
Wally and Noodles are back to the business of scientific innovation—and fun. In London, they meet a young pickpocket named Dobbin who works for a mysterious criminal called the Tick-Tock Man. Soon they are racing through secret tunnels in a bid to help Dobbin’s little sister. Can the brave boy-scientist and his loyal sidekick find the one person who can save her before it’s too late? History and technology collide in this humorous series brimming with mad science.