Science Geek Sam and his Secret Logbook - Softcover

Dekker, Cees

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745977243 ISBN 13: 9780745977249

Publisher: Lion Children's Books, 2017

Synopsis

"I'm afraid you're at the top end of the healthy weight range," said the doctor. This is doctor's speak for "you are FAT"! "Do you know how much I'd weigh if I was on Pluto?" "No idea," replied the doctor. "Only 2.3 kilograms. Practically nothing!" Meet Sam, science geek extraordinaire, and have an exclusive peek at his top secret logbook. When a meteorite crashes into Sam's school bike shed, his class have a LOT of questions about space, the universe, and life on earth. But can they believe in God AND the Big Bang? They make some cool discoveries that show them that, surprisingly, the answer is a clear yes. A fact-filled and thought-provoking story that will make you chuckle.

About this title

About the Author

Cees Dekker is a Professor at the Delft University of Technology, with degrees in Physics and Astronomy, also known for his biology research. He has written several books on faith and science. Corien Oranje is a children's author, journalist and theologian who has twice won a Dutch literary prize for Christian children's literature.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Science Geek Sam and his Secret Logbook

By Corien Oranje, Cees Dekker, Petra Crofton-van Rijssen, Sophie van Houtryve

Lion Hudson Plc

Copyright © 2017 Corien Oranje and Cees Dekker
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7459-7724-9

CHAPTER 1

TUESDAY MORNING

First I heard a whistling sound, like in a cartoon, when Bugs Bunny drops out of the sky. And then, a bang. Not just thunder or fireworks exploding, no, this was a SUPERMEGAULTR ALOUDBANGBAN GBOOMTHIS-IS-THE-END-OF-THE-WORLD kind of bang!!

Which became even louder because all of a sudden the windows shattered, and broken glass was scattered all over the floor. And because some of the kids started screaming. And because Matteo, who never sits still, fell off his chair onto the floor and accidentally pulled the table down, too.

"A bomb," Luke cried.

"Woohoo!" screamed Tom. "Gunpowder! They're lighting gunpowder."

"Fire!" Florence called. That was pure nonsense of course, because there was no fire whatsoever, just smoke and dust and shards of glass that made a crunchy noise when we walked on them. Loads of people were screaming their heads off, and Anna shouted: "I'm bleeding! Mr Nolan! There's blood on my hand!"

"I've got glass in my hair!"

Matteo had jumped up again. "Look!" he called out. "Look at the bike shed." I ran over to the window to have a look. Wooaaah. The bike and scooter shed had collapsed entirely. "Told you!" said Luke. "It's a bomb. Someone has attacked our school!"

"Or maybe someone crashed into the scooter shed!" Archie suggested. "Perhaps a parachutist, with a parachute that never opened."

"Let me check it out," I said. "In case they need help." I ran to the door. As long as I don't need to give the kiss of life, I thought. That is just so gross. Right then, the fire alarm went off. TINGTINGTINGTING. The noise was ear-splitting.

"Mr Nolan!" Archie called. "Fire drill."

"Duhhh!" replied Christy. "This isn't a drill, this is for real."

"Form a line in pairs," Mr Nolan called. "Stay calm. All of you, stay calm! Where is the register? Where?!"

"It's over there, on the hook on the door, Sir," I said. And off we went. Out of the classroom, through the corridor. The fire alarm just went on and on and on.

We could see the Year One children leaving their classroom and walking down the stairs in pairs, holding hands and singing: "We'll go down together ... all in a row ... We're not in a hurry, we'll be quiet as we go!" The Reception class children were carrying chairs. I guess their brand-new classroom assistant didn't know you should leave everything behind when the fire alarm goes off. Probably keen to save the chairs. The Year Five pupils emerged from their classrooms, and so did the Year Threes and Fours. The corridors were crowded, children pushing and shoving to the left and to the right. Miss Smith from Year Two was standing in the hall, trying to control the flow of children.

"Everyone go to the playground!" she shouted. It was very hard to know which playground she meant, because she squints.

"No! Not the BIG playground! Go to the INFANTS' playground!"

"We're not in a hurry," the Year Ones sang ...

TINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTING. The fire alarm kept going. TINGTINGTINGTING.

"Can someone please switch it off!" Archie cried. "It's driving me insane."

Someone pushed me, so I bashed into Tom.

"Oi!" he reacted angrily. "Watch where you're going, geek!"

"I couldn't help it," I said. "I was pushed." I tripped over a toddler chair in the corridor and fell flat on my face. Tom and Luke laughed loudly and a few of the infants scrambled over my legs.

"SAM BILLINGTON!" Miss Smith bellowed. "GET UP IMMEDIATELY!"

"Come on!" Archie pulled me up and together we made it to the exit. All of the children were outside by now. Luke and Tom were trying to get onto the roof by climbing a drainpipe, a few of the Reception children were fighting over the ride-on toys, and a little boy was standing in the middle of the sandpit throwing handfuls of sand in the air. All the teachers were talking to each other, while trying to use their mobile phones.

TINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTING

"Shall I phone 999?" Archie asked.

"Let's find out what's going on first," I said. I looked at the teachers, but they were far too busy on their phones to keep an eye on us.

"Come on," I said, and we ran behind the school and climbed over the fence that separates the infants' and the juniors' playgrounds.

What we saw there was just incredible. What a mess! The playground was littered with bent pieces of corrugated iron, lumps of rock and shards of glass. And where ten minutes ago the bike shed had been, there was now just a pile of twisted and overturned scooters and bikes. And there was a hole in the ground. An enormous hole, at least a metre deep. A few elderly people were staring at the scene from a safe distance and more spectators were coming towards the school. There were ladies with bags of groceries, a man in a wheelchair, a few tall lads holding sausage rolls and a mum with a trailer bike.

"What's wrong with kids these days!" an elderly man said.

"I bet they were playing with fireworks," the man in the wheelchair chipped in.

"I can't believe they get away with it. And this is meant to be a Christian school."

"Well, there you go."

"They're a bunch of rascals."

"Look at that hole in the ground!"

"Those were no ordinary fireworks."

TINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTING

The fire alarm just didn't stop. It made a shrill noise that went right through you. I ran towards the shed to see more of what was going on. I stepped across some broken bikes and looked at the hole in the ground. I couldn't see any arms or legs, so it hadn't been a parachutist, crashing into the shed. What a relief. At least I didn't have to give anyone the kiss of life. But what on earth had happened? A bomb? Who would drop a bomb onto the bike shed of Trinity Primary School?

"Maybe it was a toilet," Archie said. "A toilet that fell out of a plane. I read in the paper once that a Boeing lost its toilet. If a toilet falls down from 10,000 metres high, it will make a massive hole in the ground."

"That wasn't a loo, man," I said. "That was poo. Frozen poo that fell out of the plane."

We carefully peered into the hole. No toilet. And nothing that resembled poo. All I saw was soil and stones. But perhaps frozen poo looks like stone? We heard loud sirens coming our way, closer and closer, until the noise was deafening. It was so overwhelming that you couldn't hear the TINGTINGTING of the fire alarm anymore. A large, red fire engine pulled up and turned around on the playground, followed by two police cars. They switched off the sirens and five firemen came running down the playground, two policemen marking the area with red and white tape.

"Move back, move back!" they called out. "Everyone move out of the way, please."

A few ordinary cars drove onto the playground and men in white outfits jumped out. I felt like we were in a movie.

"This is epic," I said to Archie.

"More epic than geography," Archie said.

There was Christy. "Sam! Everybody's looking for you!"

"We're just checking out what's going on," I said. "Sir, Sir! We found them!"

"There you are," Mr Nolan said. He came running up, flustered and out of breath. "I was getting worried about you boys." Whoops. Yes. We suddenly remembered that we were supposed to stay together as a group if the fire alarm went off, until we were allowed back in the classroom. On the other hand, there was no fire and it was just the shed that had collapsed.

"We just wanted to know what'd happened," I said. I expected Mr Nolan to get really cross, but he just summoned us to go back to the infants' playground, where the head was standing on the edge of the sandpit, next to a police officer.

"Well, we all had a terrible fright, of course," he began. "But thankfully, no one got hurt."

"I'm bleeding!" Anna shouted, and she showed off her hand so all of us could see.

"... I mean, no one was seriously injured," Mr Fazeli continued.

"What about me? I could have lost my arm!"

"And I had glass in my hair!"

"Excuse me, police officer," Matteo called. "Was it a bomb from a plane?"

"At the moment we don't know what has happened," the policeman said. "We're in the middle of finding out. But one thing is for certain: you're not allowed to go back into the school."

"Yippeeee!" cried Tom, and Luke did his crazy dance move. Everyone was cheering and clapping.

"A day off!"

"Whoopee!"

"Let's go and play football!"

"Let's go to the sweet shop!"

Mr Fazeli raised his hand. This means we have to be quiet. Every teacher raised their hand, as did the children, until everyone had gone quiet - except for Tom and Luke, who were busy talking about the sweets they wanted to buy.

"Gobstoppers!"

"No, Mars Bars!"

"Gobstoppers are the best!" Christy dug Tom in the ribs and it was only when Tom went to punch her back that he realized everyone had raised their hand. He quickly put up his fist, and so did Luke. At last everyone was quiet.

"We're contacting all your parents and carers," Mr Fazeli said. "As soon as they've arrived to collect you, you can go."

"But I always go home by myself!" Archie said.

"Me too!"

"My mum won't come over to get me. Seriously."

"I can go home on my own on my bike, no problem."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to cycle home today, boys," Mr Fazeli replied. "Your bikes are broken and until we know what has happened, you're not allowed anywhere near the big playground."

"But my bike was brand new!"

"Can I please go and have a look to see if my scooter is still there, Sir?"

"I live opposite the school, Sir, can I please just go home?"

Mr Fazeli could NOT be persuaded. We all had to be collected by a parent or carer, or an after-school club leader. One after another, the children were collected and soon the playground was empty. Even Archie had gone home and my sister Lottie had gone with a friend. It was just Luke, Tom and I who were still waiting. How long would I be stuck here? Maybe until eight o'clock this evening? My parents wouldn't come. They're not nasty or anything but they're just too busy to check their phones. We get tons of Japanese tourists wanting to take selfies with my parents in front of their cheeses and the old-fashioned scales.

"Would Sam be able to go home with you, please?" Mr Nolan asked Tom's mum.

"Yes, of course," she said. "I'm taking Luke home, too."

"What?" Tom asked. "No way are we taking Sam!"

"What do you mean? Don't be rude! Of course we'll take him."

"No, no, it won't be necessary," I quickly chipped in. I really didn't fancy going to Tom's house, especially not with Luke in tow as well. Last time I went to Tom's, he made us play hide-and-seek and him and Luke locked me into the garage. They left me there for TWO hours.

"Hey, Sam!" a voice called out. I turned around and saw my Uncle Jack.

"Hi, Uncle Jack, what are you doing here?"

"Good!" Mr Nolan said, relieved. "That's all sorted then. OK, boys. I'm going back inside for a staff meeting. I'll text or phone your parents tonight with an update."

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Honest. I wouldn't want to swap my mum and dad for anyone or anything (not even for a thousand quid - although that could buy me an awesome new laptop), but my Uncle Jack, he's something else - he's VERY cool. Uncle Jack is my mum's youngest brother and he knows EVERYTHING about stars and planets. I've been to his house a few times to look at the stars at night. He has a REAL telescope. I bet it would even allow you to see a rocket land on the moon.

"Did Mum send you to collect me?" I asked.

"Collect you?" Uncle Jack was surprised. "No, I'm here to investigate the crash in the playground."

"You mean the loud bang?"

"Yes, that's it. We want to see if it was caused by a meteorite."

"A meteorite?" I shouted. "From space? Really? That is so cool!"

"We don't know yet what caused it. It would be tremendous if it was a meteorite. These things only happen once in a hundred years."

Wow. That would be so awesome, if our bike shed had been hit by a meteorite.

"Can I help?" I offered. "School's finished early."

"I think you'd better go home, Sam."

"I can't. There's no one at home."

"I'll give your mum a ring now." Uncle Jack got his phone out and marched off to the big playground. I ran after him, past the sand pit and climbing frame.

"Mr Nolan has already tried. They didn't answer and they never pick up texts, either. They're far too busy." Uncle Jack stepped over the fence. I followed him. There weren't just firefighters and men in white outfits and police officers on the playground. Now I could also see photographers, cameramen and journalists scribbling busily in their notepads. The area where the scooter and bike shed had been was cordoned off. I tapped Uncle Jack on his back.

"If I did go home, there won't be anyone there."

Uncle Jack turned around. "No one?"

"No, on a Tuesday I always go to our neighbour, Sue, but she only gets home at three, so I'd be waiting on her doorstep for four hours. Stuck outside."

Uncle Jack stepped over the red and white tape and peered at the hole in the ground. This was the hole where there'd been a shed until this morning.

"I was here when it happened," I said. "I can tell you everything. The funny whistling sound, the explosion, the enormous bang. Imagine if I'd been in the shed just when it happened? I would have been flat as a pancake. Or a shard of glass could have sliced me in half." I tried to shiver, so Uncle Jack would think I was all upset. "I'm no wimp but I was really shaken up by that."

"Hey, you there!" A man with a beard called out to me. "Come over here and help me out with this, will you?" I looked around but he was talking to me. "We're trying to tidy this place up and you look like you need something to do."

I helped move bikes and scooters (my bike had two crooked wheels, some of the spokes had disappeared, and the front tyre was punctured). I swept the playground and carried bits of corrugated iron and fragmented wood to the chestnut tree. Uncle Jack and a few other men were lying on their fronts around the hole. They were gently sweeping small brushes across the soil, as if they were looking for diamonds. Or bombs, of course.

At last, Uncle Jack put his hand all the way down the hole. With a white glove he lifted out a stone which looked a bit like a badly burnt doughnut. He carefully placed it in a box filled with cotton wool and closed the lid. "Is it a meteorite?" I asked.

Uncle Jack got up and took off his gloves. He was beaming. "It looks like it," he said. "I can't wait to take a closer look and find out for sure."

"You can't be serious," Mum said, perplexed. "What if it'd hit the school!"

"It was only a small one," Uncle Jack responded. "I wonder if it would have gone through the roof of the school."

"Well ..." I started. "It did go right through the —"

Uncle Jack interrupted. "This is a remarkable event, Lydia! A beautiful meteorite. Most meteorites land in the ocean, or in other uninhabited places. This is so rare. We are extremely fortunate."

"Fortunate?" Mum exclaimed. "Do you call that fortunate?"

"Not fortunate that it landed on the shed," Uncle Jack quickly added.

"But that we managed to find it. That we can study it."

Mum rolled her eyes. "I can't believe this is my brother speaking. My eldest son has just escaped death – it was touch-and-go – and all you can say is how happy you are that you found a meteorite."

"If it's a real one; we don't know yet."

"Pfff."

Now it was Uncle Jack who rolled his eyes. He collapsed onto the sofa, put his feet up on the coffee table and looked at the ceiling. "You know what? I hope we'll find some amino acids. Or lipids."

"What are amino acids?" I asked.

"Amino acids are in cheese," Mum snapped. "They're just protein. I don't think you'll find protein in a meteorite, Jack."

"Amino acids are not protein," Uncle Jack replied. "They are the building blocks that make protein. The building blocks for life. And if we find amino acids on a meteorite from outer space, well ..."

"... Then a piece of cheese must have crumbled off the moon," Mum snapped back. She picked Simon up, wiped his snotty nose and walked off to the kitchen.

"She doesn't really like science," I said.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Science Geek Sam and his Secret Logbook by Corien Oranje, Cees Dekker, Petra Crofton-van Rijssen, Sophie van Houtryve. Copyright © 2017 Corien Oranje and Cees Dekker. Excerpted by permission of Lion Hudson Plc.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lion Children's Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745977243
• ISBN 13: 9780745977249
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Oranje Corien
• Number of pages: 208