How to Fool Your Parents (coming soon!)
And a brand new Scrabble-themed crossword!
In this newsletter:
How to Fool Your Parents (new kids’ book of magic tricks)
OWO! New Scrabble Words!
Upcoming shows and appearances (including Rochester, NY!)
A brand new Scrabble-themed crossword: I can see for tiles and tiles
How to Fool Your Parents
The day is almost here! I’ve been working on this kids’ book of magic tricks for years and years. It finally hits shelves on October 8th. But you can pre-order it now! 🙏✨🎩
I’m very proud of this book as it is a celebration of being smart and nerdy. I wrote it for kids who want the inside track and secret knowledge; kids who want to be the smartest person in the room.
This book contains 25 brainy, nerdy, cerebral, thinky, clever magic tricks and secret codes that you can use to fool your family and friends. And I’ve included good stuff! — real tricks from the trade. There is a chapter on sleight of hand, mentalism and tricks with technology. I teach a bunch of ways to encode and disguise secret messages. And I also include the history of famous magicians from the last 150 years: Houdini, Adelaide Herrmann, Ching Ling Foo, and Julius and Agnes Zancig, to name a few.
I hope you’ll pre-order a copy! Let’s get the foolin’ started!
OWO! New Scrabble Words!
Just recently, the Collins Dictionary introduced 2,000 new words to the Scrabble dictionary. I know, it’s been hard to contain your excitement, right? Here are some of my favorite new words that I’ve come across:
Hooks
Hooks are very important in Scrabble. If you have a bingo (a seven-letter word) you often need to hook it onto an existing word on the board. Here are some new words that are created by adding a single letter to the front or the back.
MPOX – no one likes MONKEYPOX in the real world. But this shortening is good now in Scrabble.
BOPO – A good back hook for BOP. BOPO is a shortening of “body positivity”
NGRAM - An NGRAM is a sequence of n adjacent symbols in a particular order. What does this mean exactly? It means you can now add an ‘N’ to GRAM.
BACNE: EW (also a legit 2-letter word)
OWO: A hook for either OW or WO. What does it mean? I’m glad you asked …
Gen-Z Terms
Woah may not be good in Scrabble (yet), but Gen-Z does give us a few new fun words to play.
OWO: A term used to express surprise in social media. It is derived from the shapes in the emoticon below.
UWU: is similar, a term for cute and and affectionate messages.
GANK: to take or steal (something)
YEET: a slang word with the meaning “to throw”
TOMOZ: tomorrow. Play that Z. Bam!
GRAMMABLE: Worthy of posting online
FLOOF: a term used to describe something that is very fluffy
AUTOFILL: a software feature that automatically enters previously stored information
And my favorite new word?
HOGLET - a baby hedgehog. FLOOF!
Upcoming Shows/Apperances
With the upcoming book tour for How to Fool Your Parents, there are a lot of chances to see (and learn!) some magic. Below are some of the dates, including most notably, my first ever show in my hometown of Rochester, NY. If you’re in the 716 or 585, please join me at the Rochester Fringe Festival!
9/13 - 9/15 Rochester Fringe Festival. Tix here!
How to Fool Your Parents. Teaching and performing magic
10/13: Los Angeles - Barnes & Noble at the Glendale Americana - How to Fool Your Parents
10/18: TODAY Show
10/19: Philadelphia area - Children’s Book World, Haverford, PA
10/20: New York - 92nd St. Y
More venues and more details soon!
Brand New Scrabble-themed Crossword!
If you’re a Scrabble fan, you’ll probably blaze through this one. But I couldn’t help myself and had to put this fun fact into grid form. Solve it here. Enjoy! And as always, please let me know what you think.
Events
Interested in booking me for your next event? More info here on private parties, corporate speaking & performances and team-building puzzle hunts.
Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards
Enigmas: Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards. Included within this unique deck are four very special puzzle cards. Solve them all to unlock an online Puzzle Hunt! Available here.
UWU in Scrabble... perish the thought!!
And this book looks so cool (I say, as someone far outside the age range :P) ... maybe I'll stop by the 92nd Street Y when you're on your book tour!
Congrats on the book!