Vanity
Plate Puzzles: A Puzzle Book Where You Solve the Vanity
Plates ,
by Michelle Mazzulo
This is a book that ought to keep you entertained
for at least 166 minutes. Michelle Mazzulo has crafted
a very clever collection using those personalized vanity
license plates so uniquitous on the highways and byways
of America and Canada. The author has worked for the
KinderCare Learning Centers for twenty-two years and
brings a fresh appreciation for puzzle solving and word
games to this book. I random-paged about twenty of the
puzzles and was able to solve about half of them fairly
quickly. Five or six required some diligent concentration,
and the rest really stumped me. Luckily, the author
provides answers to all 166 of the puzzles in the book.
Generally, I am not drawn to word puzzles,
but many of my friends and fellow roadtrippers really
love them. I am, however, always fascinated by the road
trip-related information, and this book delivers on
that level, too. Throughout the book, the author provides
entertaining nuggets of road trip trivia, including
license plate slogans, facts about license plate production,
and more. While puzzle lovers will enjoy the challenge
on every page, I delighted in the entertaining factoids.
I did not know, for instance, that South Carolina used
to have a slogan that read "The Iodine State."
I was intrigued to learn that early license plates in
some states were made out of porcelain (!) and wood.
This is a great book for fans of brainteasers,
and it may well inspire a rash of new vanity plates.
It would make a terrific gift for a puzzle-loving roadtripper,
and it would be great to have on hand when the kids
start asking, "Are we there yet?"
Mark
Sedenquist
7/23/08
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