Books in Mensa® series

Kids will enjoy testing their knowledge of popular sayings, books, cartoons, TV shows, nursery rhymes, animals, sports, music, geography, and more with 40 terrific crossword puzzles. Packed with clues that include a little bit of everything, and that offer a challenge without using obscure words, these puzzles are fun to do. So while children think of solving the puzzles as a game, they'll learn new things, too. Do you know the last name of the author of "Curious George" (3 letters)? How about a five-letter word for extinct birds, or dummies? Here's a tricky one: a flower that's easy to remember (hyphenated--11 letters). Can't figure it out? The solutions are all in the back of the book.Answers: Rey, Dodos, a bone, forget-me-not

What summer month has no major holidays? Which Australian critters live on eucalyptus leaves? In connection with Mensa, renowned author Helene Hovanec--the creator of 38 kids' puzzle books--gives children a pleasurable brain workout with some challenging kid-centered trivia. It's absolutely fun to see if you know the answers to questions such as: Which kind of test is given to determine if somone is telling the truth? Which hero from children's literature traveled to a land called Lilliput? Some quizzes are multiple choice, while others simply ask the questions or feature fill-ins, and the subjects range from art to music, sports to food, with many categories in-between.

Card games are great fun--and learning new games can magically enhance kids' skills! To play a game, children must master rules, develop mental strategies to compete successfully, understand the objectives, evaluate their own (and their opponents') strengths and weaknesses, learn routine procedures and probabilities, keep track of the goings-on, and make long-range plans. Plus, games force them to respond quickly and to deal socially with others. Try out activities that stress language skills and reading, number concepts, and divergent thinking.

These clever word games will really make your brain work overtime to come up with the solutions. Each one has a little twist, something unusual to keep crossword and other puzzle lovers on their toes. Around and Abouts will get heads spinning and searching for the letters that fit in a circular grid; "around" answers go counterclockwise, while the "about" clues overlap them in a clockwise fashion. Work it out from Tops to Bottoms, where two letters fit into every square; Crushword also crunches several letters--sometimes more than four--into each grid. Answers to Weavers clues form a continuous chain, with the first letter fitting into a central starred space; the next four go into adjoining numbered spots. The rest shuttle back and forth across and around the diagram. Plus: Quadrants, Crazy Eights, Catching Some Z's, Siamese Twins, Honeycombs, and other great puzzlers!

Become a word detective--solve crypto-quotes that make you smarter and wiser! With these quotations in code, each letter of the quotation has been replaced by another letter. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to see how quickly you can decipher the code and figure out the quote. When you get really good, you only need to figure out a few letters. But beware, they get harder as they go. It's true--along with getting more clever, you also get wiser, as you learn how to turn this code... A D Z ' F U H M C V U B H . Q D C ' T H Z D F F M J F I T H J F . -- I D B A J V H S T into this thought...Don't be humble. You're not that great.--Golda Meir 160 pages, 4 3/16 x 5 1/4.

How many hundreds of times have you seen the top row of letters on a typewriter? Figure out the only 10-letter word that can be created from those letters. (See answer #1 below.) Next, try a simple number puzzle: What is 10 percent of 90 percent of 80 percent? (See answer #2.) Or combine letters and numbers with this puzzle: Do this quickly: Write down twelve thousand twelve hundred twenty-two. (See #3.) You'll also want to try Frame Games, that use arrangements of words and numbers to create a thought, along with the puzzles that ask you to count lots of triangles inside a larger one, and many other types of visual-letter-number mind-benders.Answers: 1. TYPEWRITER. 2. 7.2% 3. 13,222

The Mensa series of language-based puzzles just keeps selling and selling--240,000 copies so far--and here's the latest blockbuster entry, meant for a slightly younger age. It features 26 grids in the shape of each capital letter, plus 13 in the shape of lowercase letters and another 13 in the shape of commonly paired letters (such as ON, IT, and CH). To add to the appeal, all the grids come in interesting shapes, including easily recognizable animals and objects. And each puzzle contains a secret message too! An explanation page for each puzzle section explains just what to do.

Question: You're not at a loss for words, you just can't find them. What are you doing? Answer: You're working on challenging word search puzzles (and having a great time while you're at it)! Every puzzle has a theme and includes a series of related words hidden among a grid of letters. All you have to do is look for them. * "Garden Party" features RAKE, SUNSHINE, VEGETABLES, and WATERING CAN * "Night Lights" shines with ORION, VENUS, PISCES, and BIG DIPPER * "Magic Show" offers CONJURE, SLEIGHT OF HAND, HOCUS-POCUS, and "ABRACADABRA!" * "Trial Run" contains CROSS-EXAMINE, PROSECUTOR, SEQUESTER, and ORDER IN THE COURT!" Are the words spelled vertically, horizontally, or diagonally? Don't forget to check backward as well as forward. Now here are some more words: provoking, stimulating, and entertaining. Together they describe the awesome puzzles in this collection. The author lives in New York, NY. 96 pages, 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Word search puzzles don’t get much better than this.”—Will Shortz, Puzzlemaster for National Public RadioMark Danna—whose earlier Word Search Puzzles for Kids was a huge success—has come up with even more smart search challenges to delight brainy youngsters. What makes them so special? First, the letters in every grid form a picture, so instead of ho-hum squares, children get lively shapes. Then, the puzzles feature a few additional twists. Three of the searches don’t have word lists, for example; the puzzler has to create them from a series of clues. And finally, each puzzle has a hidden message: once kids have circled all the correct phrases, the uncircled letters will spell out a silly quote, fun fact, or punch line to a “punny” riddle.

These mini puzzles are mighty challenging! If you've done only traditional crosswords, these "cryptics" will work out some new mental muscles. What makes them different? The clues themselves don't appear to make sense on the surface. That's because each one has two parts: a straight definition, and a cleverly hidden bit of wordplay (like an anagram, a charade, a homophone, a reversed word, and more). For example: "Earthworms wiggling in Pennsylvania school (10)" is SWARTHMORE (an anagram of EARTHWORMS). These 60 stumpers from cryptic master Henry Hook elevate crosswords to a new level! The author lives in Brooklyn, NY. 160 pages, 4 3/16 x 5 1/4.