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A Booming Book

FROM LEFT: 3D PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN BLUE FOR TIME FOR KIDS; COURTESY ADAM RUBIN

In a wild and wacky follow-up to his best-selling book The Ice Cream Machine, Adam Rubin returns with another set of short stories: The Human Kaboom. Like his previous book, this one serves up six original tales that all have the same title. There’s something for everyone. Journey into space to a floating theme park. Solve a murder mystery. Outwit destructive rock monsters. Enjoy a circus full of colorful characters. Find a pirate’s cursed treasure. Meditate with a mountain man. (Does Rubin have a favorite? “It depends on the day!” he says.) Readers can even create their own “human kaboom” story.

Curious kids might want to know where Rubin gets his ideas. “I get that question all the time,” he says. “I think if you look around and you’re curious about the world, there’s inspiration all over the place.”