How can Alison Harrity beat bully Spencer Cunningham? Alison would have a good chance to win the fifth grade chess tournament except that Spencer is cheating his way to the championship. And Alison isn t pushy enough to stand up to him. Then Marvin Smith, a science wiz, invents the DISAST to help Alison get really tough. But is it worth it to win the tournament, if she loses all her friends?
Born in Glendale, California, Beatrice grew up in Southern California. After graduating from Pomona College, she worked in publishing near San Francisco. There she met and married Robert Gormley, and they moved to Massachusetts. They have two daughters. Since age 9 Beatrice had wanted to become a writer. But it wasn't until after her children were born that she really focused on her writing. In 1981 her first book, Mail Order Wings,was published. Since then she's written many popular novels and biographies for young people. Her most recent books are Second Lives, a novel of humans and other animals, and the biography Joe Biden: Our 46th President.