Samantha Spinner and the Perplexing Pants
Page 17
Chunka-chunka-chunka!
Everything went black.
Section 5, Detail cl1ck0nth3h4t
Vigeland Sculpture Park
In the heart of Oslo, Norway, two hundred and twelve strange and wonderful sculptures fill a public park.
They are all the work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland, one of Norway’s most famous artists. He created them between 1924 and 1943. The bronze, iron, and granite sculptures feature men, women, and children of all ages. In the statues, they are playing, fighting, and standing around in both familiar and unusual poses.
Some of the sculptures show kids wrestling, or families huddled together. The collection also includes many statues of babies standing, playing, and climbing trees. One of the sculptures features a man who appears to be fighting off a swarm of angry flying babies.
Vigeland Park also features fountains, ornate iron gates, a labyrinth, and a colossal obelisk carved to look like a tower of bodies.
Nearly two million visitors explore the park each year and marvel at the remarkable works of art.
* * *
• • •
Close to the obelisk, a huge labyrinth surrounds a fountain. The winding pathways conceal the entrance to the HEAT’s super-talent training center.
Begin at the north entrance of the labyrinth and walk slowly forward along the path. Don’t worry about solving the maze, however. To reveal the secrets of this labyrinth, you’ll have to do more than take a closer look at things. You’ll have to take a closer listen!
“Mom!” Nipper called through front door of the house. “My baseball team lost.”
“Hello?” Samantha called. “Why is the front door open?”
She pushed past her brother, walked into the house…and stopped.
The place was a mess. Books were scattered all around the living room. The coffee table was upside down, and the couch cushions had been thrown onto the floor.
“Suzette?” asked Mr. Spinner.
“Wruf!” barked Dennis as he trotted into the house.
Everyone stood looking around the room, confused.
“Wait,” said Nipper, bending down to pick up some papers. “It’s the WRUF application, and it’s not finished.”
“So?” asked Samantha.
“Maybe Mom got frustrated because she couldn’t complete it,” he said. “And then she wrecked the place.”
“That doesn’t sound like something your mother would do,” said Mr. Spinner.
“Wruf! Wruf!” Dennis barked, and the light in his collar switched on and off. “Wruf! Wruf! Wruf!”
He began sniffing the couch cushions. Then he started sniffing all around the room.
“Go find what your mother’s up to,” Mr. Spinner said to Nipper and Samantha. “I have something important to take care of. Then I’ll be right there.”
He headed to his office.
“Wruf!” Dennis barked again.
“You go back outside and check in the back,” Samantha told her brother.
“Wruf! Wruf!” Dennis kept barking.
“And take the dog with you,” she added.
Nipper nodded and led Dennis out the front door.
“Mom! The house is a mess, and my Yankees lost!” he called, and closed the door.
Samantha walked quickly to the kitchen. It was a mess, too. All the cabinets were open. The chairs had been pulled away from the table, and one of them had been knocked to the floor.
“Mom?” she said. “Are you in here?”
The phone rang, and Samantha picked it up.
“Hello?” she said.
“Sammy!” Buffy’s voice barked from the phone resting on the counter. “Where’s Mother? I’ve been calling for hours. I need help!”
Samantha sighed. She glanced around the kitchen for any sign of her mother, while her sister continued.
“I need help,” Buffy said again. “My movie is…Wait. What are you wearing?”
“A horizontal-striped shirt,” Samantha answered.
“Well, okay. I guess it doesn’t matter,” said Buffy. “Nothing matters. My stars are gone!”
“Your stars?” asked Samantha. “You mean the animals in your movie, right?”
“My movie is canceled!” Buffy cried. “People in shiny silver suits showed up and took all the animals away!”
“Silver suits?” asked Samantha.
“Hideous!” Buffy shouted. “And my boyfriend ran away, too!”
“Your boyfriend?” asked Samantha.
“Seydou,” replied Buffy. “He turned out to be a complete coward!”
Samantha heard Dennis barking loudly from the backyard.
“The moment the silver people showed up, my no-good cowardly boyfriend said he had to go to Lima.”
“Lima?” asked Samantha. “Are you sure it wasn’t Mali?”
“What’s the difference!” her sister shouted, so loudly that Samantha had to hold the phone at arm’s length. “Nobody’s left! They even took the snails! And I can’t stop scratching myself….I have fleas!”
“As good as new,” Mr. Spinner called cheerfully.
Samantha turned and saw her father standing in the doorway. He held out her red umbrella. Instead of a wooden handle, her dad had attached Nipper’s hand lens to the bottom. And he’d added a self-powered lightbulb to the tip of the umbrella.
“I made some modifications,” he said. “Three super-secret tools in one.”
Her father twisted the magnifying glass handle. The tip began glowing brightly.
“That’s nice, Dad. Very interesting, actually,” Samantha told him. “But right now we need to find Mom.”
“It was quite a lightbulb challenge,” said her father. “But now it’s fully operational. Here you go.”
He twisted the handle again, and the light switched off. Then he held it out for Samantha. Samantha put down the phone and took the new and improved umbrella from him.
Suddenly Nipper kicked open the back door, banging it against the counter. He rushed into the kitchen waving his arms wildly. Samantha could hear Dennis, somewhere in the backyard, barking over and over again.
“It’s gone!” shouted Nipper.
“What is?” asked Samantha.
“The whole thing!” he said. “The garage. The apartment. The whole thing!”
“Earth to Spinners!” Buffy’s voice blared from the phone on the counter. “Pay attention to me-eeeeeee!”
Samantha and Mr. Spinner followed Nipper through the door to the backyard.
“Wruf! Wruf!” Dennis barked furiously.
The pug stood at the bottom of the staircase to Uncle Paul’s apartment.
But the steps didn’t lead anywhere. The apartment was gone. The whole garage had vanished.
“Wruf! Wruf! Wruf!” Dennis continued barking as he looked up the steps to nowhere.
“Don’t go up those steps, old pal,” warned Mr. Spinner. “It doesn’t look like they connect to anything.”
Samantha looked down. At her feet, five words were scrawled in chalk on the pavement:
In 1992, the Mattel toy company came out with Teen Talk! Barbie dolls that spoke a mix of phrases when you pressed a button. One of the phrases was “Math class is tough!” Some people complained that the dolls discouraged kids from learning about math, and the company stopped selling them. Toy collectors have paid as much as $500 for them.
Mickey Mantle was a center fielder for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968. He is regarded as one of the greatest switch-hitters (he could swing his bat with his left or right hand) in history. An original Mickey Mantle bobblehead can be worth as much as $1,200.
In 1897, A.G. Spalding & Bros. introduced the No. 70 Pneumatic Head Harness. It was an early football helmet, with leathe
r on the outside, and inflatable rubber inside. It didn’t work very well, and they only sold a few of them. If you come across one, it might be worth as much as $18,000.
Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons is an Austrian company that has been making decks of playing cards since 1824. If you find a deck from the 1800s, it could be worth $26,000 or more.
During World War II, the U.S. Mint made pennies out of steel and zinc. They wanted to save copper, which was needed for other industries. The Mint used these other materials for one year. Then in 1944, they switched back to copper pennies, but a few steel-zinc ones were made by mistake. These few accidental pennies are some of the rarest coins, and collectors have paid up to $115,000 for one.
The game Monopoly has been for sale since 1933. If you find one of the first sets ever sold, it might be worth as much as $146,000.
Lou Gehrig was a first basemen for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. He had so many successful seasons, he earned the nickname Iron Horse, and he was the first baseball player ever to have his number retired. One of his baseball gloves sold for $285,500.
George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. played baseball from 1914 to 1935. He was the most famous New York Yankee, and one of the most famous baseball players of all time. Some people call the original Yankee Stadium the House That Ruth Built. A baseball bat signed by Babe Ruth once sold for $1,265,000!
You’ve probably guessed that this book is full of super secrets. So take a closer look at things and find these hidden puzzles and codes:
Journal Jumble: Just like in the earlier books in this series, there are secret hints hidden in the ID tags that appear in the top left corner of Samantha’s journal entries. Copy all the letters and numbers and put them in order by section number. They’ll spell out something that you might find very interesting.
The Umbrella/Hand Lens Enigma Continues: Each chapter has umbrellas and/or hand lenses at the beginning. It turns out there’s a point to them. A point. Get it?
Use these super-secret decoders to discover the message.
This is R, for example. (The handle is pointing to the right, and the tip is pointing to R.)
This is K. (The handle is pointing to the left, and the tip is pointing to K.)
And this is U. (The handle is pointing to U.)
* * *
—
To learn more about all these puzzles, and a whole lot more secrets, go to samanthaspinner.com.
And if you can’t get to a computer, or just want some help, keep reading!
Everyone needs a little help sometimes! Turn the page for the answers to the puzzles hidden in this book.
JOURNAL JUMBLE
The Puzzle:
Arrange all the entry IDs in order according to the section numbers. They will spell:
G0 T0 S4M4NTH4 SP1NN3R D0T C0M
4ND F1ND 4 L4DY 1N 4 H4T
CL1CK 0N TH3 H4T
Now replace all the numbers with letters:
Change every 4 to an A.
Change every 3 to an E.
Change every 1 to an I.
Change every 0 to an O.
The Answer:
The complete message is:
GO TO SAMANTHA SPINNER DOT COM
AND FIND A LADY IN A HAT
CLICK ON THE HAT
THE UMBRELLA/HAND LENS ENIGMA CONTINUES
The Puzzle:
Just like in the previous books, every chapter in this book has illustrations of umbrellas and/or hand lenses. If you can decode them, you’ll find that they continue the secret message that started in the first book.
Depending on which way each one is oriented and which way the umbrella handles are pointed, each drawing secretly represents a letter. (To decode them, use the decoder wheels on pages 305 and 306.)
When you’re finished, add this message to the one you found in the last book. A double-triple super-secret development in the Spinner saga will be revealed!
The Answer:
NELLY MCPEPPER AND HER TEAM HAVE ARRIVED IN THE PHILIPPINES. AS SOON AS SAMANTHA AND NIPPER REACH THE PACIFIC OCEAN, THEY WILL JOIN THEM. TOGETHER, THEY WILL TRY TO STOP THE PIRATES.
This book, like the others before it, would not exist without Team Spinner.
Krista Marino, Kevin O’Connor, Kelly Schrum, and Carole Karp. Thank you!
I am also grateful to the many librarians and teachers who have been so supportive and encouraging along the way. There are too many to list, but that distinguished group certainly includes:
Mary Creek
Sue Dahlstrom
Jeni Freed
Kelsey Frey
Cathy Goff
Hope Harrod
Nancy Milliron
Andrea Mion
Ray Pederson
Stephanie Riddle
Charlene Saenz
Michelle Scherbenske
Patty Smalley
Helen Tigue
Lucinda Whitehurst…
…and everyone, everyone at Marion Street Elementary School!
Russell Ginns is a writer and game designer who specializes in puzzles, songs, and smart fun. He has worked on projects for a wide variety of organizations, corporations, and publications, including Sesame Workshop, Girl Scouts of America, Nintendo, and Scientific American. Russell lives and writes in Washington, DC. He is the author of the Samantha Spinner series, including Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans, Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs, Samantha Spinner and the Boy in the Ball, and Samantha Spinner and the Perplexing Pants. To learn more about him, visit samanthaspinner.com and follow @rginns on Twitter.
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