December 29th 2020 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Billy and Sam are polar opposites who must work together as partners on their entry for America's Got Science. Billy is only doing it for extra credit; school takes too much effort for him to get excited about doing yet another project. Sam, on the other hand LOVES science. Her mother is the school principal, and Sam has her own lab coat. She desperately wants to meet the host of America's Got Science, Professor Quandry. When the two are investigating Billy's attic, looking for equipment and ideas for their project, they come across a trunk owned by Billy's grandmother, who studied science before taking up extreme sports. Her notebook is labeled "dangerous" and "do not touch", but all good notebooks are, right? A chapter on slime interests both of them, and they decide to make the world's most powerful slime. It requires some quirky ingredients like pickle juice, sunflower petal paste, and shaving cream, but they manage to concoct the slime perfectly. It transforms in Billy's hands, turning different glowing colors, and the two think they have a winning project. When Billy wants to pack it up for school the next day, he finds out it is missing, and his parents are acting strangely. They seem like zombies, and have a hankering for disgusting spinach and honey soup! Even Sam is alarmed, and the two hope to hunt down Professor Quandry to ask him about it, since they discovered a picture of the professor and Billy's grandmother working together. The "slimebies" are multiplying, and it's up to Billy and Sam to find a way to reverse the slime and bring back the adults. Will they be able to do that and impress Professor Quandry enough to win the science competition?
Strengths: This was a fun, goofy romp with plenty of positive aspects of science. I loved when Sam pointed out to Billy that he was making hypotheses, observations, and conclusions based on data. Adults turning into zombies is always fun. The gross details about the soup and slime add to the interest, and I liked the secrets about Billy's grandmother's past. The ending seems to leave this open for a sequel.
Weaknesses:Billy and Sam are in 4th grade. I wish they had been in seventh. That would have made more sense for the science fair, and it's easier to get children to read about older characters. There's no real reason they have to be so young. 4th graders wouldn't be allowed to walk a mile alone to the science center or go to the grocery store unaccompanied, but 7th graders would be.
What I really think: This was great fun, and is a great title to pick up at a book fair for a reader who likes humorous books, or for a teacher's classroom library. I probably won't purchase a prebind of it, since this is very similar to Castle's The Clone Chronicles or Barry's Science Fair. If it becomes available in hardcover, I will probably purchase. It was one of the few things I've read recently that I enjoyed!
Strengths: This was a fun, goofy romp with plenty of positive aspects of science. I loved when Sam pointed out to Billy that he was making hypotheses, observations, and conclusions based on data. Adults turning into zombies is always fun. The gross details about the soup and slime add to the interest, and I liked the secrets about Billy's grandmother's past. The ending seems to leave this open for a sequel.
Weaknesses:Billy and Sam are in 4th grade. I wish they had been in seventh. That would have made more sense for the science fair, and it's easier to get children to read about older characters. There's no real reason they have to be so young. 4th graders wouldn't be allowed to walk a mile alone to the science center or go to the grocery store unaccompanied, but 7th graders would be.
What I really think: This was great fun, and is a great title to pick up at a book fair for a reader who likes humorous books, or for a teacher's classroom library. I probably won't purchase a prebind of it, since this is very similar to Castle's The Clone Chronicles or Barry's Science Fair. If it becomes available in hardcover, I will probably purchase. It was one of the few things I've read recently that I enjoyed!
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