I loved these so much that I created my own Mad Scientist's Club with my neighbor friends which held meetings in our (very hot) shed loft during the summer. I just finished reading some of them to my pre-teen girls, and they enjoyed them quite a bit despite the fact that very few girl characters are part of the plot. A few quotes made us chuckle ("Shut up and stop rocking the boat!" was one). We even figured out whic…
It seems like the short stories mention the narrator's name (Freddy) one or possibly two times- it took me at least until my second read-through before it leapt out at me. This leads to a tidy resolution in The Big Kerplop! incidentally, which is one of the reasons I'd recommend reading the books in order of publication.