The Clock Without a Face

Sat., May 22, 2 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.

by Carolyn Huckabay

book/treasure hunt

From the department of Things That Make Us Feel Dumb: Eli Horowitz and Mac Barnett's The Clock Without a Face (McSweeney's) looks like a children's book. It's house-shaped, it's 15 pages long, and the tale printed on its thick cardboard pages can easily be ingested during lunch hour. But the mystery behind the story — detectives solve a case in which each of 12 apartment units have been burglarized — is anything but elementary. Not only are the stolen goods hidden somewhere on each elaborately drawn page (think Where's Waldo), but each apartment somehow represents coordinates across the United States for where the real treasures are buried. And real is the word: If you're smart enough to crack the code, you can grab a shovel and start digging. At press time, no one's unearthed the goods, but Horowitz and Barnett'll be at the Free Library this weekend to dish out clues. Who knows — Philadelphia might be sitting on a national treasure (besides the ones we know about already).