Scott Corbett’s Trick Books centered around the adventures (and misadventures) of a young boy named Kerby Maxwell, his friend Fenton, and his dog Waldo.
Kerby stops to help an eccentric old woman with her heel stuck in a drainage grating. Her name is Mrs. Graymalkin, and she is so grateful to Kerby for saving her shoe that she later rewards him with a mysterious old chemistry set that belonged to her son when he was a boy. But this is no ordinary chemistry set- when the mysterious chemicals are mixed to Mrs. Graymalkin’s instructions, they have the powers to create many wonderful, exciting effects!
Trouble hitting a home run at the game? A drop of a special mixture onto the ball will solve that! Your dog run away? A special concoction will make his whereabouts appear in the beaker! And so on and on. For every problem, there’s a potion to fix it!
Mrs. Graymalkin’s potions create such magical results, Kerby believes she is a witch, whereas levelheaded Fenton believes she is a genius scientist who happens to be extremely eccentric!
And who knows…? Maybe they’re BOTH right!

Kerby’s cousin Gaye discovers his Chemical set! The boys mix a concoction to make her forget that she has seen it, but unfortunately Gaye has moved around some of the chemicals when she was looking at it so the experiment goes wrong, the end results leaving Kerby and Fenton with beards and moustaches, and Waldo bare as a poodle! ( )