Product Description

Students, heed this little rhyme:

When it's science project time,

Do not make goop,

or glop,

or grime,

And never mess with

mutant slime.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #206662 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-29
• Released on: 2006-08-29
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .39" h x 11.36" w x 9.24" l, .89 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3–A nameless girl needs an idea for her science project. Her solution is to go on the Internet, where she comes across Professor Swami's Super Slime–a mutant yeast with just a piece of dragon DNA. Of course, she orders it and doesn't follow the directions on the box: do not open until the science fair, then feed the slime sugar until it expands to 1000 times its size and watch it explode into a harmless cloud of gas. The child finds herself with a large, green, slimy glob that begins to grow and swallow those who are rude to it: her cat, which hisses; her dad, who complains of a smell; her third-grade teacher–Eeew! What is that big, digusting creature?–and so on. Finally the child remembers the sugar and, once kids have pelted the goo with sweets and sprayed it with soda, it explodes. My project didn't win first prize, and that was fair...I guess..../Miss Fidget kept me after school to clean up all the mess. The watercolor, colored pencil, and pastel illustrations are typical Gammell–the girl bears a striking resemblance to the boy in Liz Rosenberg's Monster Mama (Philomel, 1993; o.p.), round glasses and all; she's just perfect for this slightly wild story. This book could be used as a jumping-off point for science projects–a little levity always helps during the science-experiment season.–Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. The title and the cover, showing a blackboard coated in drippy, Technicolor goo, give away the ending of this boisterous story, but that won't deter kids from reveling in the silly, gory details, which begin when a third-grader can't think of a science-fair project. While her classmates put the finishing touches on wildly ambitious experiments (a moonworthy rocket ship, a cure for a disease), the girl frets. Finally she comes across an Internet solution: "Professor Swami's Super Slime." She places her order, but when the stuff arrives, she accidentally releases it. Taking on a menacing life of its own, it devours everything in its path. Sierra's rhyming couplets create humor from the horror, spurring on the slapstick with references to "moldy underwear" and other dependable crowd-pleasers. The laughs and suspense are wonderfully magnified by Gammell's skew-angled, paint-splotched illustrations, which explode with fantasy and the familiar, messy details of a child's world. An energetic, darkly comic spin on the common story of a science project gone wrong. Pair this with Michelle Knudsen's A Moldy Mystery (2006). Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Judy Sierra is the author of many award-winning books for children, including the bestsellers Antarctic Antics, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey, and Wild About Books, illustrated by Marc Brown, which received the E. B. White Read Aloud Award. Ms. Sierra holds a PhD in folklore and mythology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is renowned for her retellings of traditional tales. She lives with her husband, Bob Kaminski, in northern California.   Visit her online at www.judysierra.net.

Stephen Gammell is the beloved illustrator of more than fifty books for children?, including Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman, which received the Caldecott Medal; two Caldecott Honor Books, The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant and Where the Buffaloes Begin by Olaf Baker; and The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra. Stephen lives with his wife, Linda, in St. Paul, Minnesota.