Jake sighed. Guess I won’t be making paella tonight.
“Mr. McQuade?” barked General Coleman.
“Yes, sir?”
“We have another situation. And it’s a bad one. Your country needs you, son. Now!”
Jake nodded.
With great power came great responsibility.
He was off on his next mission.
Can you keep up with Jake? Solve these puzzles and show the smartest kid in the universe just how smart you are! Find out if you’re correct at ChrisGrabenstein.com.
SQUARE PUZZLES
Slice this picture into two identical, symmetrical parts.
Slice this picture into four identical parts.
How many squares are in this diagram?
NUMBER PUZZLES
Bowls, I’m Baffled!
You have a 10-liter bowl, a 6-liter bowl, and unlimited access to water. How do you measure exactly 8 liters?
Marvelous Marbles
You have nine marbles that are similar in size.
Eight of them weigh the same, but the ninth one is a bit heavier. If you could use a two-pan balance scale only twice, how would you identify the heavy marble?
Clear Dots, Black Dots, No Dots!
Can you figure out which image completes the following sequence? Extra points if you can explain why!
(Dis)Organize These Pencils
You have six pencils. Can you arrange them in such
a way that each pencil is touching all five of the others?
Grab a piece of paper and draw your response.
READY FOR RIDDLES?
What gets wetter the more it dries?
What can you catch but not throw?
No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?
What goes up and down the stairs without moving?
I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I’ll make it lighter. What am I?
I’m where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow’s in between. What am I?
I fly, but I have no wings. I cry, but I have no eyes. Darkness follows me. What am I?
Thank You to…
My brilliant wife (and coauthor of Shine!), J.J. The smartest thing I ever did was marry her.
My longtime Random House editor, Shana Corey. She might just be the smartest editor in the universe. Extra thanks for helping me create the first chapter of a whole new series.
Polo Orozco, for his editorial assistance (and congratulations on your promotion).
My even longer-time literary agent and a smartly dressed man-about-town, Eric Myers.
The gifted and talented math wizards who helped me with the treasure map: Erin Allen, Kimberlie Grabenstein, and Mike Wilson.
Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, whose TED Talk “A Thirty-Year History of the Future” served as the inspiration for The Smartest Kid in the Universe.
Many thanks for the brilliant authenticity reads and translation assistance from Polo Orozco, Mariam Quraishi, Dani Valladares, and Brittany N. Williams.
The very smart cover was created by Antoine Losty. Thanks to him and Michelle Cunningham, Katrina Damkoehler, Stephanie Moss, Trish Parcell, Martha Rago, April Ward, and everybody in the Random House Children’s Books art department.
An author is just one part of the team that makes a book. Special thanks to all the supersmart folks at Random House:
John Adamo, Kerri Benvenuto, Julianne Conlon, Janet Foley, Judith Haut, Kate Keating, Jules Kelly, Gillian Levinson, Mallory Loehr, Barbara Marcus, Kelly McGauley, Michelle Nagler, and Janine Perez.
Copyediting: Barbara Bakowski, Alison Kolani, and Christine Ma.
Production: Shameiza Ally and Tim Terhune.
Publicity: Dominique Cimina, Lili Feinberg, and Noreen Herits.
School and Library Marketing: Emily DuVal, Shaughnessy Miller, Emily Petrick, Kristin Schulz, Erica Stone, and Adrienne Waintraub.
Sales (the geniuses who get the right books into the right kids’ hands): Suzanne Archer, Amanda Auch, Emily Bruce, Gretchen Chapman, Brenda Conway, Dandy Conway, Whitney Conyers, Stephanie Davey, Jenelle Davis, Nic DuFort, Cletus Durkin, Felicia Frazier, Stella Galatis, Alex Gottlieb, Becky Green, Susan Hecht, Christina Jeffries, Kimberly Langus, Katie Lenox, Ruth Liebmann, Lauren Mackey, Cindy Mapp, Dennis McLaughlin, Deanna Meyerhoff, Carol Monteiro, Tim Mooney, Stacey Pyle, Michele Sadler, Mark Santella, William Steedman, Ceara Steffan, Kate Sullivan, and Richard Vallejo.
And finally, thanks to all the teachers and librarians who work tirelessly to prepare students for jobs that may not even exist yet but will definitely require a ton of smarts.
is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the hilarious and critically acclaimed Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and Welcome to Wonderland series, The Island of Dr. Libris, Shine! (coauthored with J.J. Grabenstein), and many other books, as well as the coauthor of numerous page-turners with James Patterson, including Katt vs. Dogg and the Treasure Hunters and Max Einstein series. Chris loves jelly beans and has always secretly suspected he might be a genius (but no one seems to agree with him). Chris lives in New York City with his wife, J.J. Visit ChrisGrabenstein.com for trailers, fun facts, and more.
@cgrabenstein
chris.grabenstein
cgrabber1955
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The Smartest Kid in the Universe Page 18
