Nick Volt

Nick Volt writes logic puzzle books for children who would rather solve something than fill something in. He holds degrees in psychology and in education, and a third in computing, which between them explain most of the decisions in these books.

Robi, a small robot with a big brain, stars in Robi & Pip Puzzle Comics. The reason for the comics is simple: a child who is following a story wants to know what happens next, and the next page is a puzzle. In every episode, the comic shows one thinking trick, step by step, before the reader tries it alone.

The Locked Gallery, for ages eight to twelve, is one long night in a locked museum: ten galleries, a hundred logic puzzles, and a cat who gets into every room. Each puzzle opens a case or a door, and the ten key letters, one from each gallery, tell you where the last door opens. It comes in a black-and-white edition and a color edition.

Every solution is verified by algorithm before it goes to print, so no child loses an afternoon to a puzzle that had no answer, or had two. And each new puzzle type is shown on the page, step by step, before the reader is asked to try it alone. A six-year-old and an eleven-year-old do not fail at a puzzle for the same reasons, and the books are built around that difference. The aim is that a child picks up a method, not a knack for guessing.