Vincent Shadow isn't particularly good at sports - he doesn't have a lot of friends and he is constantly being picked on by his classmates at Central Middle School. But it is Vincent's unusually creative mastermind that truly separates him from other kids his age.
With his top-secret attic lab full of tried and tested (and often failed) toy prototypes - from Liquid Superballs to Bullz-I Basketballs and Sonic Snorkelz - and an off-limits sketchbook packed with all of his creative ideas, the toy invention possibilities are endless...
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 realises that playtime is over: it's time to get serious about toys.

This book was recognised in the Junior category by the North Carolina Children's Book Award.

There are 192 pages in this book. This book was published 2009 by Little, Brown & Company .

Bruce Hale has written and/or illustrated over thirty-five books for kids, and is the author of Clark the Shark; Clark the Shark Dares to Share; the award-winning Chet Gecko Mysteries series; Snoring Beauty, one of Oprah's Recommended Reads for Kids; and the School for S. P. I. E. S. series. In his free time, Bruce enjoys hiking, watching movies, and making music. He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, dog, and many hats. You can catch him online at www. brucehale. com. Guy Francis spends most of his time drawing, painting, and drawing some more. He has done a variety of illustration work in the children's market, including editorial and educational illustration, chapter books, and picture books. He freelances from his home in Provo, Utah, where his wife and four children are his own personal art critics and bring a healthy bit of chaos to the studio. Every now and then he gets out of the house and heads to the mountains with his family. You can visit him online at www. guyfrancis. com. Readers will smile as Clark learns the true meaning of Christmas. Tim Kehoe is the inventor of numerous toy products, including the world's first colored bubbles, called Zubbles and he was recently named one of America's 100 Best by Reader's Digest.