Jared Goldsmith

A skateboarding principal offers unusual incentives to his students to motivate them to learn more.

Timmy Failure, founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps the nation, is about to crack the biggest case of his generation: a school competition to find a stolen globe.

A.J. and the other second graders do everything except play sports when they go to "fizz ed" class with their new teacher, Miss Small.

A.J. and the other students at Ella Mentry School brave trick-or-treating at the school secretary's house, even though it is supposedly haunted.

A.J.'s teacher, Ms. Krup, helps make his sleepover at the natural history museum fun and exciting.

Timmy Failure, founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps the nation, is about to master global domination right after he solves the case involving the coveted Miracle Report at school.

Mr. Macky dresses up as Abraham Lincoln to get the students at Ella Mentry School excited about their Presidents' Day oral reports.

"Though I, Timmy Failure, have solved many notorious crimes and now wish to enjoy my retirement, my fans have begged me to turn my memoirs into a movie, an ode to my greatness. I am, however, beset by enemies, the worst of whom is Tom John John, the buffoonish movie director. What's more, my father is in town, working at a bar, which is obviously just a cover for our father-son crime-fighting partnership. And my dim-witted polar bear business partner,...

The new lunch lady at Ella Mentry School, Ms. LaGrange, writes secret messages in the mashed potatoes and tries her best to get A.J. and the other students to eat healthy foods.

The New York Times bestselling cartoonist behind the nationally acclaimed comic strip Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis has won raves for Timmy Failure, the hilarious first book in a new series for young readers. With the help of a polar bear named Total, Timmy Failure hopes to strike it rich by running the best detective agency around. The only problem is that our supremely confident hero is often more bumbling than brainy.