The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow [With Invention Notebook]

"Kehoe's debut is a quick-reading, whimsical tale of a boy inventor, but reliance on the trope of the evil stepfamily undercuts much of the fun. Vincent used to have frequent blinding flashes of inspiration and invented all sorts of wonderful toys in the secret laboratory his late mother built with him. But when his mostly absentee father moves the family to Minnesota, he loses access to most of his inventions (and stops having visions). Forced to sleep in a cold basement laundry room by his stepmother, Vincent's only ray of hope is his eccentric new art teacher, who gets Vincent the opportunity to enter a contest sponsored by toy designer Howard G. Whiz. Unfortunately, Kehoe's characters never amount to much more than cartoons. Vincent's stereotypically nasty stepmother favors her biological children — packing gourmet meals for their lunches, while Vincent gets the dregs — and his oblivious father is absentminded to the point of neglect. Though Vincent gets his expected moment of glory in the end, his family's last-minute turnaround feels pat and halfhearted. Ages 8 — 12." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Vincent Shadow isn't particularly good at sports and is constantly being picked on by his classmates at Central Middle School. But it is Vincent's unusually creative mind that truly separates him from other kids his age.

Vincent's top secret attic lab is crammed with toy prototypes --from Liquid Superballs to Bullz-I Basketballs and Sonic Snorkelz--and he has a sketch book filled with drawings of toys he still wants to build. So when a chance encounter with an eccentric toy inventor offers him the opportunity to go from unknown weird kid to toy inventor extraordinaire, Vincent realizes that playtime is over: it's time to get serious about toys.

* Now retitled as Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor in paperback

Creatively designed and illustrated throughout, this irresistible story shows what talent, persistence, imagination, and a little luck can do. And it shows that when paired with toys, science can be pretty fun. Includes a full-color invention notebook.