THE POTATO CHIP PUZZLES

When a local snack-food manufacturer creates a puzzle contest to benefit a school, Winston Breen and his two best friends represent their middle school, solving his six elaborate puzzles and an unexpected seventh: exposing a cheater. Like its predecessor, this second adventure in The Puzzling World of Winston Breen has a number of extra puzzles included in the narrative and more at the end, along with the answers. And as before, there is a strong thematic emphasis on cooperation as the boys cope with adults who seem to value winning over good sportsmanship. The cheater’s actions introduce surprising violence into an otherwise wholesome world. The puzzles mostly involve numbers or letters and vary in difficulty; some will be quite challenging to puzzle-loving readers, as they were to Winston and his friends. The pace is suspenseful but allows for pauses for problem-solving. The joy for both contestants and readers of this brain-teasing mystery will be in the process. (Mystery. 9-12)