“Your ears?” Pablo repeated.
Henry sighed and hung his head. “Yeah,” he replied. “They bother me a lot. It always seems like people are yelling at me. Or telling me what to do. Sometimes I get lost in all the words when people talk. So I just stop listening. When the noise is too much, I get nervous. And sometimes…I lose control.”
Violet rested her hand on Henry’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell us?” she asked.
“I don’t like to talk about it,” Henry replied. He tugged on his costume. “I don’t like being different from other kids. My moms say there isn’t anything wrong with being different, but they don’t understand.”
“I know what it’s like to be different,” said Pablo. “When I first got to Newburg from Puerto Rico, it was really hard. I didn’t speak English, and no one could understand me. It was easier once I made a friend,” he said, smiling at Violet.
Henry lowered his eyes. “I don’t really have friends. Well, I have one. A lady named Ms. Robinson comes to my house once a week. She said my ears are sensitive because I have auditory processing disorder. We do a lot of fun activities. My mama says they exercise my listening muscles. It’s hard sometimes. But my mom says she’s really proud of me. I don’t know. I guess I still feel embarrassed about it.”
Dr. Crisp knelt down in front of Henry. “The Maker Maze is for everyone, Henry. And there’s no need to be embarrassed about something that makes you different. Our differences are what make us special.”
Then Dr. Crisp pressed a button on her watch and whispered, “Maker Maze, activate sensory mode!”
The ground vibrated lightly.
Henry’s face brightened. “Hey! That wasn’t so bad!” he said.
“I should have turned on sensory mode sooner,” said Dr. Crisp. “Henry, I’m sorry I didn’t make the Maze more welcoming for you.” She held out the Maker Manual. “Maybe the Maze knew I also had a few things to learn today.” She smiled.
“My dad always says you’re never too old to learn something new,” added Violet.
“I’m not that old!” replied Dr. Crisp. They all laughed.
“I’m really sorry I hurt your ears with the gong,” Pablo said to Henry. “I should’ve been more patient.”
Henry smiled. “Thanks, that really means a lot to me,” he said. The two Makers reached up and gave each other a high five.
With his arm still in the air, Pablo noticed the time on his watch. “We only have thirty-five Maker Minutes left! And we haven’t even finished level two,” he said.
“Flaming funnels!” said Dr. Crisp. “You better hurry!”
The trio huddled. “Let’s think,” said Violet. “When Pablo hit the gong, the jelly beans started bouncing.”
“It’s like the sound moved them,” added Henry.
“But how?” Pablo asked.
“Maybe it was the plastic!” Violet bit her lip as she thought. “At our family cookout last summer, my cousin turned up the music really loud. The adults got so mad at him.” She laughed.
“Violet! We have to focus!” said Pablo, tapping his watch.
“I know! Just listen. With the music so loud, the speaker started vibrating. I could see it shake!”
“So you think the sound made the plastic vibrate?” asked Henry.
“Yes! And that’s what made the jelly beans move,” replied Violet.
Pablo scratched his cheek. “That means sound makes our eardrum vibrate. And that’s how we hear!” said Pablo.
The Maker Maze jingle sounded softly.
Pablo, Violet, and Henry cheered.
“You solved that one like science superhearoes!” said Dr. Crisp as she handed out high fives.
“My dad said there’s no sound in space,” said Pablo. “Is that true?”
“It’s kind of true,” said Dr. Crisp. “Sounds travel like a wave through the air. And in order to make our eardrum vibrate, sounds have to make the air vibrate. But there’s no air in space, so it’s really hard to hear anything. That’s why astronauts have fancy equipment to record space sounds! Space sounds are special, and we’d never be able to hear them by ourselves.”
Then Dr. Crisp grabbed the Maker Manual. The book snapped open. The page read:
Dr. Crisp tapped her watch three times and quickly swiped up. A gust of wind blew up from the floor, sending Dr. Crisp’s wild rainbow hair into the air. The bowl, jelly beans, and gong slid away.
The Makers and Dr. Crisp were again standing in an empty room. Across from them were three targets. The center of each target was colored purple, with a black M drawn in the middle. The circle around the purple center was yellow, and the outer circle was neon blue.
“Okay, Makers. This is your final level. And it’s all about sight!” said Dr. Crisp, rolling her eyes in opposite directions.
Henry’s mouth fell open. “How did you do that?” he asked.
“It’s one of my many secret talents,” she said as she walked toward the targets. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we all have two eyes.” Dr. Crisp spun around to face the Makers. “But why?” she asked with her hands in the air.
“Because we’d look like aliens if we only had one!” Pablo said jokingly. Violet and Henry giggled.
“Good guess!” Dr. Crisp winked. “But in this level, you’re going to figure out the correct answer.”
Dr. Crisp stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A door in the corner of the room swung open, and three robots zoomed out. They sped over to the Makers. They were each holding a drone and a controller.
“Oh, cool!” said Pablo as he took the drone from a robot’s claw.
“These are like the ones in the Science Space at school!” said Violet.
“But even better!” added Henry. Every drone had a shiny black body with silver propeller blades attached to each of the four purple arms.
“Listen up!” began Dr. Crisp. “You are all going to stand here and wear one of these.” She pulled three black eye patches out of her lab coat pocket and tossed one to each Maker. Violet stretched hers over her curls and fixed it into place.
“You look like a pirate,” said Pablo, laughing as he put his on.
“Violet the pirate!” added Henry.
“Shiver me timbers!” said Violet in her best pirate voice.
“In this challenge, you will use the controller to fly the drone over the target in front of you,” explained Dr. Crisp. She showed them the different buttons they needed to use to make the drone fly. “When you think the drone is hovering over the purple center of the target, press this button and a laser will blast out.”
“Got it!” replied the Makers.
“You’ll each try once with the eye patch and once without,” continued Dr. Crisp. “Based on the results, you will have to decide why we use two eyes to see.” She started rolling her eyes again.
Pablo, Violet, and Henry laughed.
Dr. Crisp raised both hands overhead. “Ready, set—”
“Wait!” Henry interrupted. He pulled on his costume sleeve. “I just want to make sure I got it.” He pointed to a button on his controller. “This is the one I press for the laser, right?”
Dr. Crisp smiled with her arms in the air. “That’s the one!”
Henry relaxed his shoulders and nodded to Dr. Crisp. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Dr. Crisp lowered her arms quickly.
“Launch!”
The Makers sent their drones whizzing through the air. After making some adjustments, Violet blasted her laser over the target.
bizzap!
The yellow circle glowed.
“No way! I was right over the purple circle,” Violet said with her hands on her hips.
Pablo’s tongue stuck out of his mouth as he carefully positioned his drone.
bizzap!
The blue circle glowed!
“What?” he said. “Impossible!”
bizzap!
The yellow circle on Henry’s target lit up.
“This makes no sense at all,” said Pablo as he landed his drone on the floor. He took off his eye patch. “My drone was right above the middle of the target!”
“Mine too!” said Violet.
“Eye patches off!” said Dr. Crisp.
“Everything looks the same,” said Henry as he snapped the patch off.
“Here goes nothing,” said Pablo. He sent his drone flying into the air. Then he very carefully positioned the drone and pressed the laser button on his controller.
bizzap!
The purple circle glowed.
“Yes!” Pablo said as he jumped into the air.
bizzap!
The centers of Violet’s and Henry’s targets glowed as well. But before the Makers could celebrate, Dr. Crisp’s watch started flashing.
“Muffling microscopes!” said Dr. Crisp.
“What’s going on?” asked Henry.
“This isn’t good,” said Pablo. He swallowed hard.
“Oh no!” said Violet. “We’re never going to make it!”
The Makers only had three minutes left to finish the level. Not to mention go back through the portal and get to the museum before their classmates unfroze!
“We have to think fast,” said Violet. She bit her lip.
“Well, it was way easier using two eyes instead of one,” said Henry.
“Yeah, with one eye I swore the drone was in the right spot,” said Violet. “Even though it wasn’t.”
Henry tugged on his sleeve. “When we had the patches on, we could still see the center of the target.”
“But it was hard to know if the drone was actually over it or not,” added Pablo.
“Maybe having two eyes helps us tell the exact location of things around us,” said Henry.
“Thank goodness!” said Pablo.
“Excellent work, Makers! But there’s no time to celebrate. Thirty seconds left!” said Dr. Crisp. “Let’s see our way out of here!” She tapped her watch three times and swiped down. The room with the model eardrum and gong flew into view. Then she swiped right, and the Makers were back onstage with the Mystery Maker Box.
“This way!” said Dr. Crisp. She ran off the stage, pushing a giant dog balloon out of her way.
POP!
Confetti exploded into the air.
Henry grabbed his ears.
“Sorry, Henry!” Dr. Crisp said over her shoulder.
Pablo, Violet, and Henry hurried behind. They made it to door number one and ran into the main lab of the Maker Maze.
The purple circle of light was starting to fade on the ceiling.
“Five seconds!” called Dr. Crisp. “Hurry and jump!”
The Makers ran as fast as they could toward the portal. They grabbed hands and leaped.
The portal closed.
The Makers tumbled through the giant nose onto the floor of the City Science Museum just as their classmates unfroze. A buzz of excited voices filled the lobby.
Pablo, Violet, and Henry stood up.
“We barely made it,” said Pablo, trying to catch his breath.
“I know,” said Violet. “I think I felt the portal pinch my toe!”
Then Henry faced his two new friends. “Thank you for taking me to the Maker Maze,” he said. He tugged on his sleeve. “It really made me feel special.”
The Makers hugged.
Henry noticed Mr. Eng walking their way. “Act normal,” he said.
“What’s that in his hair?” whispered Violet. “It looks like…”
“Confetti?” said Pablo. He scratched his cheek. “Can’t be.”
“I’m glad to see you are all having a good time,” said Mr. Eng.
“We’re having a blast!” said Violet.
Pablo put his arms around Violet and Henry. “You know what, Mr. Eng? Field trip buddies are like eyes.”
“Oh really?” said Mr. Eng with raised eyebrows. “How so?”
“Two are better than one!”
MAKE A MODEL EARDRUM!
Always make carefully and with adult supervision!
MATERIALS
1 rubber band
1 teaspoon of uncooked rice (about 25 grains)
baking sheet
bowl
plastic wrap
scissors
wooden spoon
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Use scissors to carefully cut a piece of plastic wrap that is big enough to cover the bowl.
2. Stretch the plastic wrap over the bowl. Make sure it’s stretched tightly! Secure it in place with a rubber band.
3. Spread one teaspoon of uncooked rice over the plastic.
4. Make noise! Hit a baking sheet with a wooden spoon.
5. Watch the rice dance!
6. Try different types of noise. You can play loud music, yell, or clap your hands. Get creative!
7. Now think! Make observations about which sounds were able to move the rice.* You can also replace rice with sugar, small pieces of paper, or even jelly beans! Discuss your ideas with friends or family!
* You can create your own experiment sheet or ask your parent or guardian to download one at theannegriffith.com.
Your parent or guardian can share pictures and videos of your model eardrum on social medial using #MagnificentMakers.
MAKE SCRATCH-AND-SNIFF CARDS!
MATERIALS
3–4 different flavors of powdered Jell-O®
3–4 small plastic containers
large white index cards (5" x 8")
plastic cookie cutters
white school glue
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Open the Jell-O packets and pour each into a separate small plastic container.
2. Put each cookie cutter on an index card. You might even be able to fit a few cookie cutters on one card.
3. Squeeze glue inside the cookie cutters. You can either fill the entire cookie cutter or make an outline. It’s up to you!*
* You can also paint freehand with the glue! You can even draw your name!
4. Sprinkle enough Jell-O powder to completely cover the glue. Get creative! You can use a different flavor for each cookie cutter or mix flavors! What happens to the Jell-O when it gets wet from the glue?
5. When you’re done, remove the cookie cutters and let the glue dry overnight.
6. In the morning, carefully wipe away any extra powder from your cards.
7. Gently scratch the different shapes and smell them. If you mixed flavors, which can you smell the most?
Your parent or guardian can share pictures and videos of your scratch-and-sniff cards on social media using #MagnificentMakers.
Jorge, thank you for encouraging me to chase my dreams. Your excitement about my writing journey is so motivating. Thank you, Dad, for introducing me to the joy of losing yourself in a good book. Mom, I miss you so much and wish more than anything you were physically here with me to enjoy this adventure. But I know that you’re proud. Violeta and Lila, I started writing again because of you. I wanted kids like you to see themselves going on fun and exciting science adventures. I love you both so much. Many thanks, Kate, for your feedback on creating an authentic neurodiverse character. Stephanie, thank you for letting me bounce around weird ideas during our morning commute phone calls. It really helps get my creative juices flowing! Thank you to my wonderful agent, Liza Fleissig. You rock! Finally, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such an amazing editor, Caroline Abbey, as well as the entire Random House team. Thank you for your c
ontinued guidance and support.
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Riding Sound Waves Page 3
