Books with author Tom Paul Fox

One look at any of these gadgets you can make, and your friends will call you a mechanical genius—or a mad scientist! Build a rocket-propelled toy car or a secret place to hide your treasures from snooping little kids. Grow a pumpkin so big, even an adult can’t lift it. Make an automatic dog feeder, a mechanical snowball thrower, or some storm-predicting bells. All fifteen “Amazing Stuff” projects produce toys that are more than playthings. Yet all you need are some pieces of wood, nails, oatmeal boxes, jar lids, and Popsicle sticks. And you just use a hammer, screwdriver, and other tools from around the house—plus a couple of cheap electric motors you can buy at any electronics store.

Put together three best friends, a summer vacation, and a whole chain of lakes to explore and you know there will be many adventures and loads of fun to be had. Meet up with Matthew, Michelle, and Andrew, all twelve years old and all have “Mystery” as their middle names. Mysteries seem to follow them wherever they go! Matt (Matthew) is staying over at his grandparents for the summer on Treasure Lake, the largest and deepest lake in the chain. His two friends, Micki (Michelle) and Andy (Andrew) live near by. Eleven year old Ben, an all-around-nice-guy, who is going through some tough times, sometimes joins his three friends on their adventures. Treasure Lake is a lake steeped in history and mystery. Its name comes from an old logging legend of buried treasure worth a fortune! Treasure Lake is connected to two other lakes, and it is on Emerald Lake that Matt, Micki, and Andy meet up with the green ghost - or is it a ghost? Micki thinks so, Matt thinks so, but Andy isn’t so sure . . .If the three friends aren’t solving a mystery they will be having a blast fishing for trophy fish and oh-so-yummy! fish. What’s Andy’s favorite food? You guessed it - fish! It isn’t until Matt tries to land what seems like a lead anvil hooked to a submarine that he hears about the Treasure Lake Monster –could he have hooked into the monster that is said to be something like the legendary Lochness Monster? The children are determined to figure it out.A not-so-nice-guy spoils their fun when a string of burglaries happens in their own neighborhood. Things go from bad to worse when Matt’s grandparent’s own house is robbed and then Ben’s dad is arrested for the robberies! Ben is devastated, but his three friends are determined to find the burglar and free Ben’s dad of all suspicion. But will the burglar find them first?