Mystery Mapping Microchip Book

January 7, 2009 10:36 AM

Help me find a book about a computer chip, a map, and a mystery solving youth!

Around 1981-1983, there was a series of books about a rather precocious kid that solves mysteries using his computer. (I think it was a series -- could have been a one-off.) I can't remember very much about the series, but there was one book in particular where the kid ends up realizing that a mysterious microchip that he found was in fact a map of his town.

Any ideas? It's driving me crazy, and my googling of "microchip town young adult book" really hasn't gotten me very far.

posted by headlessagnew to media & arts (6 answers total)

I can't find a summary of the books to confirm but I believe this is a story in the Chip Mitchell series by Fred D'Ignazio. I recall that story and a few other details (Chip lived with his Aunt, did deep knee bends in the shower every morning which caused his Aunt's tea to spill into her saucer, I think he built a robot of some kind). Googleing the books isn't giving me any details but if these details sound familiar maybe you can find them at your library.
posted by macfly at 11:49 AM on January 7, 2009

Oh, hey, I might have read these as well. Did one of them have to do with the protagonist going up against a college/university student in a competition to see whose program could scan a map of the ocean and find a sub first or something of that nature?
posted by barc0001 at 6:33 PM on January 7, 2009

I can't say that I remember that but there seem to be two or three books and I really only remember one. I confess that this question led me to Amazon and I've two of them on the way - if that story is in one of them, I'll let you know. I love reacquainting myself with books I read as a kid - they hardly ever disappoint.
posted by macfly at 7:18 PM on January 7, 2009

I know exactly what you are talking about. It was like an 80s version of Encyclopedia Brown. Now it's killing me! I did book reports on it/them!
posted by gjc at 8:58 PM on January 7, 2009

Thanks to Amazon I think I can confirm that we're all are thinking about the same book. Chip Mitchell: the Case of the Stolen Computer Brains (Fred D'Ignazio) has the microchip that Chip uses to figure out where some thieves hid stolen computer chips (the microchip isn't really a map of the town but the five processors correlate to traffic circles where the chips were hidden) and the sub problem (triggered by Chip and the University student running into each other at the town skating rink and the University student challenging Chip's homemade computer to a duel with the University computer - a professor made up the sub finding challenge). Victory! Now that's it's started snowing I'm going to curl up with my Chip book and re-read.
posted by macfly at 10:30 AM on January 10, 2009

Okay, macfly is totally right; those are definitely the books. (Got them from the library yesterday.) Thanks a ton!
posted by headlessagnew at 9:25 AM on January 15, 2009