The Hard Problem (Paperback or Softback)

The Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder Book #2
From National Book Award-Winner Charles Johnson

It's the first day of middle school and nothing's going right for poet Gabby Sykes. She's in a bad mood, her hearing aid is missing, she's not allowed to eat cheese anymore for the rest of her life, and her best friend, scientific whiz kid Emery Jones, is already showing off . But things go from bad to worse when Emery's crush on a new student distracts him from dual threats to the entire world--self-replicating robots with minds of their own, and aliens intent on enslaving humankind. It's up to Gabby to snap Emery out of it, and fast. Together they team up with friendly robot Cal and former bully Chippy Payne--But will they be able to save Redd Foxx Middle School, and all of humanity, from destruction?

Elisheba Johnson is a multimedia artist and poet. After earning her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, Johnson opened Faire Gallery Cafe, a multi-use art space. Since 2013, she has worked with the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture as a project manager in the Public Art Program. Dr. Charles Johnson is a novelist, essayist, literary critic, short-story writer, philosopher, and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. He has published thousands of drawings as a cartoonist and illustrator, two collections, Black Humor (1970) and Half-Past Nation Time (1972), and created, co-produced, and hosted the 1970 PBS drawing program Charlie’s Pad. Johnson is a MacArthur fellow, the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, and a winner of the National Book Award for his novel, Middle Passage.