[BOOK REVIEW] The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra

Title:  The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School

Author:  Judy Sierra

Artist:  Stephen Gammell

Genre:  Horror / Science Fiction / School

Year Published: 2006

Year Read:  2014

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Some Scary Imagery)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

I have read many books by Judy Sierra and out of all the books I had read by Judy Sierra so far, “The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters” was one of my favorites from her (even though it also had a lot to do with Henrik Drescher’s creative drawings)!  So, I picked up this unusual book from Judy Sierra along with illustrations by Stephen Gammell called “The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School” and man, did I really enjoy this strange and creative book!

The book starts off with a little girl who wanted to make the perfect project for the science fair, but could not come up with a good project that would beat out her classmates’ science projects.  So later that night, the girl stayed up late to look for a great science project on the internet and she stumbles upon a project called “Professor Swami’s Super Slime.” The girl ends up buying the slime and once she takes the slime out of the box, the slime suddenly started to grow large and it started to eat many people, which included her little sister, her father, her third grade teacher and her classmates!

Can the girl stop the slime from eating everything else before it is too late?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  I must admit that this book was pretty impressive for the average “school project goes wrong” storyline!  Judy Sierra’s writing is extremely creative as the story is told in a rhyming prose and the rhymes managed to make the story stand out on its own as it is both hilarious and creative at the same time!  I loved the fact that the girl buys a science project that manages to go wrong in a few minutes since I usually love stories where an experiment goes wrong and starts devouring the town in the process!  Stephen Gammell’s artwork is as usual fun to look at as the students look very amusing with their creative outfits (since I remembered when I was in elementary school, the other kids used to mix and match their clothing to be creative)!  I also loved the image of the slime monster as it truly does look threatening, with its black and white glob like appearance and the fact that it changes its color throughout each page really brings out the creepiness of the monster.

Parents should know that the images of the slime monster might be too scary for smaller children, especially since the slime monster looks so threatening and frightening as it eats the kids and the adults.  For anyone who has read “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” you pretty know how Stephen Gammell’s illustrations can be pretty scary at times and this book is no exception when it comes to the slime monster.  Parents might want to look over this book first before showing it to their children to see if they can handle the scenes with the slime monster.

Overall, “The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School” is a fantastic book for children who love reading books that deal with monsters that are unique in appearance and tone.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the images of the slime monster might scare smaller children.