by Cy Tymony

Andrews McMeel Publishing, $12.99, 145 pages

Are you searching for things to do with all the odds and ends in your junk drawer? Cy Tymony’s Super Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things offers 30 inventions that can be completed in minutes with items found around the house. Did you know that you can turn a grocery bag into an air cannon? A paper clip into a sailboat? Tymony begins by laying out the basics of using electricity, wires, batteries, and magnets that are used in the various projects. In the Sneaky Fashions chapter, you learn how to make techno-fashion artificial fingernails that light up and have moving parts! Enjoy making sneaky belts, headbands, and 3D party t-shirts. Kids will love making crazy toys like a Levitating Ghost (made with the help of static electricity) that will mystify and astound their friends. Mini foosball and football games will make car trips fun.

As you make each project, feel good in knowing that you are reusing and recycling materials and saving natural resources. Parents and teachers will find inspiration in the Sneaky Science Projects chapter. The projects get progressively more intricate as the book progresses, but step-by-step instructions and helpful illustrations guide readers.

Kathryn Franklin