Sparkling Stars #2

When Speed Spaulding arrives at State Military Academy on his father's orders to build strength and prove himself, he quickly earns respect by standing up to a pair of bullying brothers—and discovers he has real talent on the pitcher's mound. As the season unfolds and Speed helps lead the team toward an undefeated record, those same troublemakers threaten to sabotage everything when the state championship game finally arrives. With the odds stacked against him both on and off the field, Speed must dig deep to show what he's made of.

When a man calls the police to report his wife's murder at the Phoenix Hotel, Detective Finnegan and the F.B.I. arrive to investigate a crime with no weapon, no fingerprints, and precious few clues—but a keen eye for detail may spot what the killer overlooked. "Find the Murderer" challenges you to solve the case yourself before the agents uncover the truth hidden in plain sight.

The Professor and his assistant Stoogie demonstrate a series of magic tricks for the audience, from making a dime mysteriously fall into a bottle to snapping a pencil with a folded bill and pulling a rope clean through Stoogie's neck. Each illusion goes hilariously wrong or backfires in classic slapstick fashion, with Stoogie bearing the brunt of the Professor's comedic mishaps. The tricks are explained on the final page, turning this humor story into a playful guide for readers to fool their own friends.