Science No Fair!

by Nancy Krulik

  Text copyright © 2016 by Nancy Krulik and Amanda Burwasser

  Illustrations copyright © 2016 Mike Moran

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews and articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

  First Edition

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are from the authors’ and illustrator’s imagination, and used fictitiously.

  While this book aims to accurately describe the steps a child should be able to perform reasonably independently when crafting, a supervising adult should be present at all times. The authors, illustrator, and publisher take no responsibility for any injury caused while making a project from this book.

  Sky Pony Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.

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  www.realnancykrulik.com

  www.mikemoran.net

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Krulik, Nancy E., author. | Burwasser, Amanda, author. |

  Moran, Mike, illustrator.

  Title: Science no fair! / Nancy Krulik and Amanda Burwasser ;

  illustrated by Mike Moran.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., [2016] |

  Series: Project Droid ; #1 | Summary: When Logan Applebaum’s mother invents a robotic cousin for him, Logan thinks this may give him an edge in the third grade science fair but the Silverspoon twins have other ideas.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015047405| ISBN 9781510710184 (hardback) | ISBN

  9781510710283 (paperback) | ISBN 9781510710238 (ebook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Robots--Fiction. | Science projects--Fiction. |

  Schools--Fiction. | Humorous stories. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Robots.| JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books. | JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories. | JUVENILE FICTION / Science & Technology.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.K9416 Sci 2016 | DDC [Fic]--dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015047405

  Cover illustration by Mike Moran

  Cover design by Georgia Morrissey

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-5107-1018-4

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1023-8

  Printed in the United States of America

  Interior Design by Joshua Barnaby

  For Danny and Ian, the other half of the bunch

  —NK

  For Jone, Aura, Anya, Nadine, Alex, Lexi, and Sasha, my other halves

  —AB

  To my Project Boys, Patrick and Matthew

  —MM

  CONTENTS

  1. Surprise!

  2. Can You Keep a Secret?

  3. Just Act Normal

  4. Trouble Times Two

  5. Ready for Takeoff!

  6. Top Secret

  7. Splash Attack!

  8. No Lava for Java

  9. What’s the Buzz?

  10. Time’s Up!

  Logan and Stanley’s Supersonic Spud Machine!

  1.

  Surprise!

  “Logan! I’ve got a surprise for you!”

  I heard my mom calling. But I didn’t move. My mom is an inventor. There’s always some sort of surprise in her lab.

  I was busy fishing the green loops out of my cereal. I wanted to find out if each color really tasted different. But before I could swallow a spoonful, Mom ran into the kitchen.

  “Logan!” she said, as she pushed her goggles up onto her forehead. “Didn’t you hear me?”

  I nodded. “I was going to come as soon as I finished breakfast.”

  “But this is the biggest surprise yet,” Mom insisted.

  Mom always says that. So it wasn’t very surprising.

  “What is it you want most in the whole world?” She smiled.

  “That giant box with the trap door? The one magicians use to make people disappear?”

  I dropped the spoon. Green cereal loops and milk splattered all over the floor.

  “Did you get me one?” Now I was getting excited.

  Mom shook her head.

  Oh, bummer.

  I went back to fishing green loops out of my bowl.

  “This is bigger.” Mom grinned.

  Bigger than the most amazing magic trick in the whole world? No way.

  “Come on,” Mom said. “You’ve been asking for this since you were little.”

  “The only other thing I ever wanted was a little brother.”

  Mom smiled really wide.

  I hopped out of the chair.

  “A brother?” I shouted. “You adopted a brother for me?”

  “Not exactly,” Mom said slowly, “but—”

  I didn’t hear the rest of what she said. I was too busy running for the garage. That’s where my mom has her lab.

  But when I got there, I didn’t see a baby anywhere.

  There wasn’t a crib.

  Or a stroller.

  Or even a diaper.

  I peeked under the table. And up on the shelves.

  But all I saw were pieces of some of my mom’s old inventions: wires, bolts, wheels, and a full-sized plastic skeleton with a top hat on his head. But no baby.

  I turned to go back in the house.

  That’s when I saw the kid.

  He was standing beneath a chalkboard covered with numbers and weird signs. And he was staring at me.

  “That’s not a baby,” I said.

  “No,” my mom agreed. “He’s just a little younger than you.”

  Hmmm.

  It could be kind of fun to have someone near my age around, I thought. Up until now, it had been just Mom and me. Mom was fun. And sometimes she acted like a kid. But she was still a “mom.”

  “Hi,” I said, walking over to the kid. “I’m Logan.”

  The kid just stared at me.

  Maybe he was shy.

  “What’s your name?” I asked him.

  The kid still didn’t answer. He didn’t even move.

  “Give him a few minutes,” Mom said. “He’s still charging.”

  2.

  Can You Keep a Secret?

  Just then, the kid blinked. Twice. He scratched his head and yawned.

  “Oh, good. Java’s all charged up,” Mom said.

  “Java?” I asked.

  “That’s his nickname,” Mom explained. “It stands for Jacob Alexander Victor Applebaum.”

  Applebaum. That was my last name.

  Which could only mean one thing. “You built me a robot brother?” I asked Mom nervously.

  “Of course not,” Mom said.

  Phew.

  “I built you a robot cousin!”

  I thought about that for a second. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.

  “Can he play soccer with me?” I asked.

  Mom nodded.

  “How about magic tricks?” I asked. “Could he be my assistant?”

  “I can program him to do that,” Mom said. She snapped her fingers. “Abracadabra. He can do anything a kid can do. Even homework.”

  “Homework?” I asked. “What kind of homework could a robot have?”

  “Whatever ho
mework you have,” Mom said. “He’s going to be in your class at school. It’s all arranged.”

  “You want me to bring a robot to school?”

  “Yes,” Mom told me. “Of course.”

  I rolled my eyes. What did she mean, of course? Who but my mom would think it would be normal to bring a robot to school?

  “Every day?” I asked her.

  “You bet. Just like any other kid,” Mom answered. “But you can’t tell anyone he’s a robot. He’s part of a secret project I’m working on.”

  “Secret project?” I asked.

  “Java is a special kind of robot called an android,” Mom explained. “He looks human. He sounds human. He’s just like a regular kid, except smarter and stronger.”

  Suddenly, Java opened his mouth. “Good morning,” he said.

  Java’s voice sounded like a normal eight-year-old kid’s. And he looked like a normal eight-year-old kid, too. Maybe this could work. Except for one thing. Mom’s inventions never worked the way they were supposed to.

  “I can’t do this,” I said. “Can you imagine how the other kids at school will tease me if they find out I have a robot cousin?”

  “No one will know.” Mom smiled. “He’s like any other kid. What could go wrong?”

  “Are you kidding? Do you remember the dancing teddy bear you made me in first grade? I brought him for show-and-tell. He went crazy! He stuck his finger up Mrs. Slater’s nose. And I couldn’t get him to turn off.”

  “That was a small problem,” Mom said. “I fixed it later.”

  “Mrs. Slater never forgave me,” I mumbled.

  Java stuck his finger up his nose. “This is not such a nice feeling,” he said. “I do not blame her.”

  “Java is different,” Mom promised. “I’ve been working on him for months. Nothing will go wrong this time. You’ll see.”

  Mom started to walk out of the garage and toward the house. Java stood up and followed her. He walked like a regular kid. There was nothing robot-like about him.

  “Java has the brain of a computer,” Mom told me. “So he can help you with some of those tough math problems. And it will be nice to have someone around to help with your chores.”

  That actually sounded pretty good.

  As we walked back into the kitchen, Mom frowned. “It’s a pigsty in here,” she said.

  Java looked around. “I do not see any animals.”

  “Is he for real?” I groaned.

  “Almost,” Mom said with a laugh.

  Almost wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t take Java to school. It was too weird. I had to get out of it.

  Aachoooo! I let out a fake sneeze.

  “I can’t go to school,” I told Mom. “I think I caught a bug. I better stay home.”

  “I can do it!” Java shouted, as a fly whizzed by under his nose. He clapped his hands together, trapping the fly in midair.

  “I caught a bug, too,” he said. “But why would that keep me home from school?”

  I looked at Mom nervously. Java didn’t act like a normal kid at all.

  “He doesn’t always understand,” Mom admitted. “But the more he’s around real kids, the more humanlike he’ll learn to be. It’s going to be okay. You’re just getting cold feet.”

  I knew that meant I was nervous.

  “I’ll say,” I told Mom. “How do you cure cold feet when you’re worried about something like a robot cousin ruining your life?”

  “I can do it!” Java shouted. He jumped up, grabbed a blanket from the living-room couch, and laid it over my sneakers.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.

  “Warming your cold feet,” Java said. “Cold feet do not feel nice. Just like picking your nose.”

  “Boys, you’d better hurry,” Mom told us. “The bus will be here any minute. And remember, Logan. No one can know Java is a robot. It has to be our secret.”

  I looked at the stunned fly on the counter and the blanket on my feet. Keeping Java’s true identity a secret was not going to be easy.

  3.

  Just Act Normal

  “Please act like a normal kid,” I begged Java as we walked to the bus stop.

  “I will,” Java answered. “I am programmed to act like a normal kid.”

  Oh, brother.

  “Hey, Logan!” my best friend, Stanley, called to me from the stop. He was wearing a T-shirt with a hunk of Swiss cheese on it that said, SAY CHEESE AND MEAN IT.

  “Hi, Stanley,” I said. “What’s new?”

  Stanley shrugged. “Same old stuff.” He looked at Java. “Who are you?”

  “I am Java!” he said loudly. “Logan is my cousin.” Java held out his hand to shake. Stanley stared at him.

  Leave it to my mom to program a robot with perfect manners.

  “Java’s staying with us while his parents are delivering pancakes to hungry rhinos in Transylvania,” I said quickly.

  Then I caught myself. I didn’t even know if rhinos came from Transylvania. Or if they ate pancakes.

  Luckily, neither did Stanley. He just said, “Oh.”

  “He’s finishing the school year here, with us,” I continued.

  “Cool,” Stanley said. He looked behind me to see if the bus was coming. “Hey,” he whispered. “Here she comes.”

  Java turned to see who was coming. His head spun really far—almost the whole way around.

  “Whoa!” Stanley exclaimed. “How did you do that?”

  “Yoga,” I said before Java could answer. “It makes him really stretchy.”

  “The person coming up behind you is a girl with curly brown hair,” Java told me.

  “I know,” I said. “That’s Nadine Vardez.” I clutched my stomach.

  “Are you in pain?” Java asked.

  I shook my head. “No. It’s just that every time Nadine comes near me I get butterflies in my stomach. I wish I could get rid of that feeling.”

  “I can do it!” Java shouted.

  Suddenly, Java grabbed me and lifted me over his head. He flipped me over and started shaking me up and down.

  Stanley stood there, staring. He couldn’t believe it.

  Neither could I. “Wha … what … are y … you … do … doing?!” My voice came out all wobbly.

  “I am trying to shake the butterflies out of your stomach.” Java peered into my mouth. “They must be stuck down there.”

  “Put me down!” I ordered.

  “Okay.” Java flipped me over and dropped me right on my rear end. In front of Nadine Vardez.

  Quickly, I scrambled to my feet.

  “Hi, Logan,” Nadine said. “Who’s your super-strong friend?”

  “He’s my cousin. His name is Java.”

  “Cool name.” Nadine smiled right at him.

  That didn’t seem to make Java nervous at all. I guess robots don’t get nervous.

  Just then, the bus pulled up, and we all climbed onboard. Java took a seat by a window. I tried to sit next to him, but Nadine beat me to it.

  “Where are you from, Java?” Nadine asked.

  “Logan’s garage,” Java answered. “That is where the lab is.”

  “He means he’s staying in my garage for now,” I said quickly. “My mom is having a room made for him in there. He’s actually from some place … um … far away.”

  Nadine opened her mouth to ask another question. But I didn’t think I could make up any more answers. So I changed the subject.

  “Do you and Cayla have any ideas for your science fair project?” I asked.

  “We came up with our idea last night,” Nadine said. “We had to. The science fair is next week.”

  “What is a science fair?” Java asked.

  “Didn’t they have one in your old school?” she asked him.

  “Java used to be homeschooled,” I told her. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. My Mom did program Java at home.

  “The science fair is a huge deal,” Nadine explained. “Everyone brings in science projects. The best project for every
grade wins a prize.”

  “Have you won a prize, Logan?” Java asked me.

  Suddenly I heard laughter coming from the seat in front of me. Up popped the Silverspoon twins, wearing their usual matching sweaters.

  “Logan’s never won anything—” Sherry Silverspoon said.

  “—because we always win—” Jerry Silverspoon added.

  “—everything!” the twins said at the same time.

  “Oh, yeah?” I shouted back at them. “This year, Stanley and I are working together. We’re going to do something amazing.”

  “Is it going to be as big a disaster as your magic trick at the talent show?” Jerry asked.

  “When you tried to pull a rabbit out of your hat, and it wasn’t there?” Sherry added.

  The twins started to laugh.

  “It’s not my fault the rabbit ran away!” I told them. “Besides, this will be different. Our invention is going to knock it out of the park.”

  “That is a baseball term,” Java said. “Is the science fair at a baseball stadium?”

  The twins laughed and turned back around in their seats. But as the bus pulled up to school, I heard them whispering:

  “There’s something weird about that new kid,” Sherry said.

  “Yeah,” Jerry agreed. “And we’re going to find out what it is.”

  4.

  Trouble Times Two

  “Miss Perriwinkle, this is my cousin Java,” I said as my robot cousin and I walked up to the teacher’s desk. “He’s new.”

  Miss Perriwinkle smiled. “Hello Java,” she said. “I’m happy to meet you. Logan’s mother has told me all about you.”

  Not all, I thought to myself. There are a few nuts and bolts Mom probably didn’t mention.

  “We have an extra desk in the front row,” Miss Perriwinkle told Java. “Please take that seat.”

  “I can do it!” Java shouted.

  He walked over to the desk and picked up the chair.

  “What are you doing?” Miss Perriwinkle asked him. She sounded surprised.

  I didn’t blame her.

  “You said to take this seat,” Java replied. “Where would you like me to take it?”