HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PHINEAS L. MACGUIRE,
BOY-SCIENTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE, AKA MAC:

1. He's allergic to purple, telephone calls, and girls, and can prove it.

2. He's probably the world's expert on mold, including which has the highest stink potential.

3. He does not have a best friend. He does, however, have an un-best friend, who he does not -- repeat, not -- want to upgrade to best-friend status.

But disaster strikes when his teacher pairs Mac and his un-best friend together for the upcoming science fair. Worse, this un-best friend wants the project to be on dinosaurs, which is so third grade. Worse still, it seems as though everyone else in his class finds the un-best friend as unlikable as Mac does. But, being a boy-scientist, once Mac notices this, he just might have to do some investigating.

This very funny young middle-grade novel includes tantalizingly grue- some experiments for exploding your own volcanoes and imploding marshmallows.

When his new best friend, Ben, decides to run for class president, fourth-grade science whiz Phineas MacGuire reluctantly agrees to be his campaign manager in exchange for help with his latest experiment--cultivating exhibits for a mold museum.

Houston, we have a problem! Phineas L. MacGuire (a.k.a. Mac), is less than up-to-date on planetary happenings. (Marsquakes? Who knew?) If he’s going to be the best scientist in the fourth grade, Mac has to set his sights a little higher. Well, actually a lot higher: Outer Space. But, space camp is expensive and Mac’s mom says he can go only if he earns the money himself. But, where is he going to find enough money for a week on Mars (or a pretty close simulation thereof)? Houston, we have another problem: a gigantic, slobbery dog named Lemon Drop. Mac can earn the money he needs walking Mrs. McClosky’s Yellow Lab, but first he needs to survive the walks! Good thing Mac is a scientific genius with friends like Ben and Aretha. Together the three of them discovers that Lemon Drop is no ordinary dog—that Lab is a real-life Lab-oratory.

Chemistry in the kitchen? Phineas L. MacGuire applies his science skills to culinary creations in this food-tastic tale from the bestselling author of Chicken Boy.

Phineas L. MacGuire—scientist extraordinaire—has a new chore: cooking dinner every night. He may be a genius, but he knows nothing about following a recipe. A pinch? A dash? A smidge? This doesn’t seem very scientific. A pound of spaghetti? Salt on brownies? Lemon in biscuits? Why, these recipes look a little funky. But he’d better learn quickly if he and his friends are going to win the $10,000 Bake-Off prize. And to complicate matters, school bully Evan Forbes has taken a liking to Phineas’s brownies…too much of a liking. As in, if Phineas can’t make Evan enough brownies, he’ll get clobbered for sure. Fortunately for Phineas, he has the help of his friends, and even better, he soon discovers that cooking actually is kind of like chemistry. So the whole recipe thing might just work out—as long as he can keep his cool in the kitchen.