The Mad Scientists Club is a group of boys who enjoy science and making things. Their inventions are often part of pranks that they play on their small town, Mammoth Falls, but the boys also use their inventions and skills to help people. People in town are aware that the boys pull pranks and stunts, but they are often unable to prove the boys’ involvement in particular pranks, and the boys typically keep the methods they use secret.

The first books in the series are collections of short stories, some of which originally appeared in Boys’ Life magazine in the 1960s. The stories are a good fit for Boys’ Life because some of the skills the boys use are skills that are taught in Boy Scouts, like what to do when someone is injured and how to tie different types of knots. The reason for that is that the group is actually an Explorer Scout organization, although the stories don’t focus much on the club’s scout status. The stories’ focus on science was a reflection of increased interest in science and technological education for children because of the Cold War Space Race and technological race. The science and technology in the stories are out of date by modern standards, but the scientific principles are accurate and the club members use the best technology that they would have had available in the 1960s.

The boys in the club have a rival and antagonist named Harmon Muldoon, who is a cousin of one of the club members. Harmon also used to be a club member, but he got kicked out, so he formed a rival club and frequently tries to mess up the club’s projects and pranks.

The first story in the first book was made into a live action tv movie by Disney, The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove (1971), but the movie has different characters from the ones in the book. The Disney movie uses the same set of characters they used for their movie version of Secrets of the Pirates’ Inn (based on The Secrets of the Pirate Inn). The plot of The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove is also very different from the original story because, in the Disney movie, the kids don’t know what the “monster” is at first and need to investigate it, whereas the boys in the Mad Scientists Club know exactly what the monster is in their story because they built it themselves. You can watch the movie online through Internet Archive.

Club Members:

Jeff Crocker — Club President

Henry Mulligan — His official club titles are Vice President and Chief of Research. He is the idea man of the group. He wears horn-rimmed glasses, and his friends know that he’s thinking hard when he tilts back in his chair and looks at the ceiling.

Dinky Poore — Dinky is known for being the small and skinny, and he is often used for tasks that require someone to fit in a small place or someone who is a lightweight.

Freddy Muldoon — People often think of him as the fat kid in the group, although he is sometimes called “Little Bright Eyes” because notices details other people don’t. He is Harmon’s cousin and stays in the group after Harmon is kicked out.

Homer Snodgrass – He is dating Daphne Muldoon, who is Freddy’s cousin and Harmon’s sister.

Mortimer Dalrymple — He is considered an “electronic bug.”

Charlie Finckledinck — He narrates the stories. When he narrates, he describes things that he does as well as things the others do, but he doesn’t describe himself much.

Books in the Series:

The Mad Scientists’ Club (1965, 2001)

The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists’ Club (1968, 2002)

The Big Kerplop; A Mad Scientists’ Club Adventure (1974, 2003)

A prequel book, explaining the formation of the Mad Scientists’ Club and why they have a rivalry with Harmon.

The Big Chunk of Ice (2005)