The students of room 12B are delighted by their eccentric new teacher, Mr. Bambuckle, but Principal Sternblast is not impressed.--

The story of an ongoing battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When a teen age girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters in order to save their world, and also ours.

Dangling on a burning rope while chained above a tank full of hungry sharks ... there's only one hero who can beat those odds ... Cosentino, the Grand Illusionist! Cosentino's performances at his run-down old theatre attract the wrong kind of attention when the Ace of Spades dashes through the door, begging to be saved from the clutches of the evil two-headed King! When Cosentino is captured, he's thrown into the dungeon at the bottom of the castle,...

"Cosentino is stuck in the center of Coppertown until the opening of his new magic theater. He is frozen inside a block of ice ... or is he? The real Cos is on a mission to stop the supply of silver to the King. Silver enhances magical power, and the King has too much power already. Cos must disguise himself and sneak into the silver mines. But who are all the old people at the mine, and why is Cos's old manager Wiggy down there? Could it be a ......

Follows key the developments in science, technology, and medicine, from the Byzantine sundial-calendar (circa 520) to the prototype "Clock of the long now" (1999). In doing so, one can follow the creative achievements that have shaped the modern world.