Posted on by TracyC

Top Secret

TopSecretTop Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner, 1984.

Nine-year-old Allen Brewster’s teacher, Miss Green, is obsessed with the science fair. Every year, there is a silver trophy awarded to the best science fair project and another prize for the best science teacher. No one in Miss Green’s class has ever won the trophy, and so Miss Green has never won the best science teacher award. All the best projects are done by older students. Miss Green hates it, and she’s been known to flunk kids who do especially bad on their science fair projects.

However, Allen Brewster thinks that he’s got the kind of project that Miss Green has been waiting for. When his mother served liver for dinner one night, Allen got to thinking how much nicer it would be if people didn’t have to eat, if they could just get nutrients from the sun, like plants do during photosynthesis. So, he decides that he wants to research human photosynthesis. When he tells Miss Green what he wants to do, she says that’s impossible and refuses to take his idea seriously. Instead, she tells him that he’s going to do a project on the topic of lipstick.

TopSecretTeacherAllen is angry that Miss Green didn’t take him seriously, and lipstick is the last thing that he’s interested in. His parents think that he should just do the lipstick project and forget about it. Even if human photosynthesis were possible, how could a nine-year-old possibly achieve such a thing? Real discoveries are made by important men, not little boys. However, Allen’s grandfather encourages him to persevere in what he wants. He says that Allen has everything that a important man would have: five good senses and a brain that he can use to think. Allen’s grandfather often thinks about strange things himself, and he encourages Allen to think all the time.

“Cause you know what you are when you stop thinking, don’t you?”

“What?”

“You’re dead.”

TopSecretGrandpaAlthough Allen acts like he’s carrying out the lipstick project, with his parents’ help, he continues studying photosynthesis on the side. When Allen gets stuck on what to do next, his grandfather advises him to “think crazy,” to just let his mind explore possibilities and see what it comes up with.

What Allen comes up with is that, in order for a person to experience photosynthesis, the hemoglobin in human blood would have to act like chlorophyll in plants, and the difference between the two substances is magnesium. By experimenting with kitchen leftovers, especially (and unfortunately), the liver his mother made, Allen discovers that he is beginning to experience photosynthesis. He is no longer hungry for food, he craves water, loves sunlight more than ever, and he is turning green.

When his parents realize what he’s done, they panic and take him to a hospital, but the doctor can’t find anything wrong with him. He thinks that Allen is green because of allergies. When he goes to school, people notice right away how weird he looks, but they think that it’s just makeup. Miss Green is furious, sending him home to wash the “paint” off.

Trying to get everyone to believe what he’s done, Allen goes to the local newspaper. They do a story about him, but people still aren’t convinced. However, the President of the United States happens to be visiting the city. Allen writes to him, hoping to convince him of his discovery. In the end, Allen’s discovery is recognized by the government (whose scientists also figure out how to turn him back into a normal human), but it’s also, unfortunately, now considered top secret. Allen won’t be allowed to talk about it anymore or claim credit for it. Putting it in the science fair is completely out of the question. Allen could keep quiet about the whole thing . . . but he doesn’t want to.

TopSecretDoctors

Allen’s discovery has problems. One of which, as he learns for himself while he’s a plant person, is that with photosynthesis, he’s completely dependent on sunlight. During a spell of bad weather, it’s only his desk lamp that keeps him alive. Then, the government people point out that if people aren’t dependent on food, society as we know it would break down. Industries that produce food or food-related items would no longer be necessary. In fact, people wouldn’t really have to work at all because they would no longer need to buy food. Allen thinks that sounds pretty good, but the world would no longer be the same. To the government, the economic and social repercussions of Allen’s discovery are the most important, but personally, I think it’s just as well that the project does end because I think bad weather would be an insurmountable problem.

The humor really makes this story.  I love Allen’s grandfather, who loves coming up with odd ideas and fully supports Allen’s project to turn himself into a plant person.  He matter-of-factly sprays his grandson with bug spray when he gets aphids and has a spot for Allen reserved in his garden, if he needs it.  I’m glad that Allen didn’t remain a plant person because I found his state a little disturbing, but Allen’s description of his experiment is pretty fun.

Posted on by TracyC

The Return of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks

ReturnPlantDirtySocksThe Return of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks by Nancy McArthur, 1990.

Michael and Norman’s father has finally gotten the chance to take a vacation, but his sons’ weird, sock-eating plants complicate things.  You can board pets or ask someone to come in and feed them, but how can you ask someone to leave out socks for your houseplants?  The boys’ parents still kind of think that the plants are more trouble than they’re worth, but the boys love them like pets and can’t bear to get rid of them.  Instead, they persuade their parents to rent an RV for the family’s vacation.  That way, they can take the plants along.

It seems like a good idea, although before they leave home, the boys notice that the plants are starting to produce seed pods, something that they decide not to tell their parents.  Instead, they simply remove the seed pods from the plants when they find them.  So, the family sets off for Florida and Disney World in their RV with the sock-eating plants sticking out through the sun roof.

At first, it seems like things might be okay on the trip, but one night, when the boys are visiting their grandmother and sleeping in the house instead of the RV, they forget to set out socks for their plants to eat.  When they wake up in the morning, the RV is gone.  The boys worry that the plants somehow got control of the RV and drove it off to find more socks, but it turns out that it was stolen by car thieves.  The police recover the RV but are puzzled when witnesses describe the thieves as abandoning the vehicle, screaming and running away without their shoes on, one of them only wearing one sock.  The family is relieved to get their RV back, not to mention their plants, however their adventures are just beginning.

The family has a good time when they get to Disney World, but the plants start drooping because they feel neglected, all alone in the RV all day.  To get the plants out in the sunshine and supervised more, the boys ask the people at the daycare center at the RV park if they can leave their plants there during the day.  The plants perk up a little more, getting attention from the staff and children, especially when they sing.

But, it turns out that the mother of one of the girls who has seen the plants, Dr. Sparks, is a botanist, and she’s very curious about the origin of these unusual plants.  The boys’ parents think that it might not hurt to get an expert opinion about their strange plants, but the boys worry that if the plants turn out to be very rare, scientists will want to take them away or their parents might decide to sell them.  Their parents still think that the plants are too weird and too troublesome to keep, but Michael and Norman think of them as their friends and pets.  They’ve been trying hard to keep their plants’ sock-eating abilities quiet.  Is it finally time to tell someone?  Can Dr. Sparks be trusted?

They end up asking for Dr. Sparks’ help when Fluffy accidentally eats something he shouldn’t.  Dr. Sparks knows that the plants are unusual, but by the end of the book, she’s still not sure that she believes that they really eat socks.  The boys give her some seeds so that she can experiment without taking their plants, knowing that she’ll eventually discover just how unusual the plants are.  By the end of the book, other people are also growing more plants like Fluffy and Stanley, partly because Michael’s friend Jason stole some of the seeds they were saving and sold them to other kids while Michael and Norman were out of town.  The boys can’t get back the seeds, but they force Jason to at least confess to the other kids that the plants will eventually eat socks.  Jason doesn’t think that they’ll believe him, but the boys know that it’s only right that the buyers be warned because they’ll discover the truth eventually.  Fluffy and Stanley are also starting to acquire the ability to move around on their own.

Posted on by TracyC

The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks

PlantDirtySocksThe Plant That Ate Dirty Socks by Nancy McArthur, 1988.

Michael and his younger brother, Norman, share a room, but it’s not a peaceful arrangement.  Norman is a neat freak, and Michael likes things messy.  Michael’s always saving random things that might turn out to be useful later, although how useful they are is questionable because it’s hard to even find anything in his pile of junk.  Michael also likes sending away for random things in the mail, like toys that require him to save a certain number of box tops.  Often, by the time these things arrive, he’s forgotten what he sent away for.

One day, Michael gets a couple of seeds in the mail that he doesn’t remember sending away for.  He plants one himself and gives one to his brother to plant.  The seeds come with a set of instructions, but Michael soon loses them, and the boys are left to care for their plants themselves.  Norman is very regular in his habits, watering his plant daily with his squirt gun and giving it the proper amount of plant food.  Michael is more experimental, dumping plant food on his plant haphazardly and even giving it bits of human food from time to time.  The boys have fun with their plants, treating them like pets, but soon, it becomes obvious that these aren’t normal plants.

It starts when socks start disappearing from Michael’s half of the room.  With Michael’s messiness, he often has to dig out his dirty socks from the rest of his stuff, but even after Michael cleans up his room, he still can’t find all of his socks.  The boys suspect that someone is stealing them, so they try to sit up at night (disguised as a robot and a gorilla, as if that would help) to find out who the thief is.  That’s how Michael discovers that his plant is actually eating his socks.  They try an experiment and discover that Norman’s plant also eats socks, except that Norman’s plant prefers clean socks, and Michael’s plant only eats the dirty ones.

When the boys demonstrate to their parents that the plants are eating socks, their mother wants them to get rid of the plants immediately, but the boys plead for their pet plants (which they name Fluffy and Stanley).  Michael promises to keep his half of the room neat from now on to keep his plant from eating anything it shouldn’t and proves that keeping plants for pets, even ones that eat socks, would be less expensive than keeping a dog or a cat, especially if they only buy cheap socks.  Reluctantly, their mother agrees to let them keep the plants, but their father forbids them to tell anyone about them because everyone will think they’re crazy.

However, with people at the store wondering why they’re buying so many socks, Michael’s friend Jason spending the night, and the upcoming science fair, for which Michael still needs a project, can Michael keep their weird plants a secret?  Does he even want to?

One of the things that I remembered from reading this book as a kid was the part where they invent Fudge Ripple Pancakes.  It starts because they were making up code words to use when talking about their plants, and someone overhears them saying “Fudge Ripple Pancakes,” so they have to make up a recipe to go with it.  The recipe isn’t exactly included in the book, but basically, it involves adding chocolate syrup to regular pancake mix.  The boys try it themselves and decide they like them.  Norman has a large squirt gun, kind of like a Super Soaker (but called by a different name), and he uses it to both water his plants and squirt syrup on his pancakes.

This is the first book in a series.

Posted on by TracyC

Kat the Time Explorer

KatTimeExplorer

Kat the Time Explorer by Emma Bradford, 1998.

KatTimeExplorerTrain.jpgTen-year-old Kat is going to be living with her Aunt Jessie for the next year.  Her parents are botanists, and they are spending a year in South America, studying rain forest plants.  Aunt Jessie lives in a house in the same town as Kat and her parents so, by staying with her, Kat can continue going to the same school and see her friends.

Like Kat’s parents, Aunt Jessie is also a scientist and teaches physics at the same college where her parents teach when they’re not doing research abroad.  She inherited her house from their Great-Uncle Malcolm, who was an inventor.  Malcolm never invented anything that made much money or got much attention, but Jessie has been going through his things and discovered something interesting among his unfinished projects: a time machine.  The time machine seems to be nearly complete, although Jessie isn’t quite sure how to operate it or what should power it.  There is a drawing of a strange medallion in Malcolm’s notes, and Jessie found one with the same markings among Malcolm’s belongings, but it’s unclear whether this medallion is supposed to play any role in the time machine’s function or if it’s completely unrelated.

Then, Kat discovers another medallion in Malcolm’s old room, one with identical markings but made out of a different type of metal.  There is a space on the time machine for each of the medallions to fit.  When Kat experiments with how the medallions can fit into the machine, she activates it, transporting herself and Jessie back in time to England in 1851.

They find themselves on a train with other travelers heading to The Great Exhibition in London where people from around the world will be displaying new developments in industry and technology.  No one notices Jessie and Kat’s sudden arrival because the train is packed with people and the time machine has somehow altered their clothing and other small objects in their possession to ones that are appropriate to the period.  They also seem to be able to understand people speaking other languages neither of them knew before.  The time machine itself is packed into an ordinary-looking bag.  The two of them decide that they can’t use the time machine on the train where everyone will see them, and besides, they are both curious about the time they find themselves in.  After a temporary mix-up where they are separated at the train station, they find each other again and manage to locate a woman who will rent a room to them for a couple of days.

Unfortunately, when they start unpacking in their room, they discover that their bag was accidentally switched at the station for an identical one.  They no longer have the time machine and can’t get home!  Inside the bag they have, they find articles of men’s clothing, a small spring of some kind, an incomplete sketch of some kind of invention, a ticket to the Exhibition, and a letter written to someone named Edward from his brother Sidney about the Exhibition and the invention they plan to demonstrate there.  The brothers are very concerned about the success of their demonstration and are depending on results to make some money and save their family’s estate.  With those clues, Jessie and Kat must track down these inventors and find their time machine, saving not only themselves from being stuck in the past but the future of the two brothers!

There is an educational section in the back that explains about the Victorian Era and the Great Exposition.  It also discusses Victorian manners and tea parties.  There are tips for making little sandwiches of the kind people would eat at tea parties.

This book is part of the Stardust Classics series.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mysterious Queen of Magic

KleepQueenMagicThe Mysterious Queen of Magic by Joan Lowery Nixon, 1981.

This is part of the Kleep: Space Detective series.

Kleep and Till meet a strange young man who is looking for Kleep’s grandfather, Arko.  The young man, Mikkel, tells them a wild story, that an evil wizard is after him.  He is controlling Mikkel’s people on the planet Durth, putting them under a spell and forcing them to become his slaves. Mikkel believes that Arko may have the key to getting rid of him because an old wise man told him to ask Arko how to find Queen Stellara.  Queen Stellara was a legendary queen who could do magic, and Arko has some old write-rolls, scrolls of the kind people used to use before people began using computers alone for learning, that talk about her and her kingdom.  However, Arko doesn’t believe in wizards or magic spells or anything of the kind.

Kleep remembers Arko telling her the old stories from the write-rolls when she was little, and unlike her grandfather, she believes that wizards and magic may be real and wants to try to help Mikkel.  When Arko says that he doesn’t believe in magic and can’t help Mikkel, Kleep and her friend Till decide to use the scrolls to try to help Mikkel find Queen Stellara.  Taking Kleep’s robot, Zibbit, with them, they journey to the planet Loctar, where Queen Stellara was supposed to live.

Although this series is mostly sci-fi with a bit of mystery thrown in, this book is more fantasy.  When Kleep and her friends arrive on the planet Loctar, they discover that they must face a series of challenges to reach the legendary queen’s palace, like heros in a fairy tale.  Magic is real, and they must prove themselves worthy in order to meet the queen and ask her for the solution to the problem of the evil wizard.  But, their ordeal doesn’t quite end there because, while Queen Stellara provides them with the means to fight the wizard, they must face him themselves!

A little corny, but fun, although it’s not my favorite book in the series.  The others were more sci-fi, and this is more fantasy.  Also, for a “detective” series, there isn’t much mystery, more adventure.  It sort of reminds me of the original Star Trek episode Catspaw, except that the magical beings in this one are apparently really magical and not just aliens.  Like the other books in this series, I like the pictures, too.

KleepQueenMagicPic3

Posted on by TracyC

Kidnapped on Astarr

KleepKidnappedAstarrKidnapped on Astarr by Joan Lowery Nixon, 1981.

This is part of the Kleep: Space Detective series.

Till’s mother, Falda, has mysteriously disappeared, and Till is sure that someone has abducted her.  The only clue he has is an unfinished note that his mother left for him with the letters “RU” on it.  He takes it to Kleep and her grandfather Arko, and the three of them puzzle over what it could mean.  Arko and the kids decide that the two most likely things the letters could be part of are a kind of metal that Arko and Falda are using in the project they’re currently working on (“ruthenium”) or a group of people who are enemies of theirs, the Ruzenians.  The people of Ruzena lived on Astarr before Kleep’s people arrived from Ruel (another possible “RU” word that they ruled out) and have resented their intrusion.

Arko decides that he will first visit the mine where they get their metal, hoping that Falda has gone there in connection with their project to create a new way to anchor small space ships at outer space docks.  However, Kleep and Till can’t help but think that the Ruzenians have kidnapped Falda.  Arko wants them to stay at the house with the robot Zibbit until he returns, but they feel like they can’t wait and decide to take Zibbit with them to investigate the Ruzenians.

It’s a harrowing journey through Ruzenian territory, through a dark forest with giant worms and singing trees whose music threatens to overtake their minds, but they do discover that is where Falda is being held prisoner.  Unfortunately, Kleep, Till, and Zibbit are also captured.  With the king of Ruzena suspicious of the projects that Arko and Falda are working on (he thinks they’re designing weapons, but they’re not), what can they do to escape or get help?

Posted on by TracyC

Mystery Dolls From Planet Urd

KleepDollsUrdMystery Dolls from Planet Urd by Joan Lowery Nixon, 1981.

This is part of the Kleep: Space Detective series.

Kleep’s grandfather is an inventor, and she loves it when she’s included in the gatherings of other inventors that her grandfather hosts.  They come from many different planets, and she loves to hear them talk about their work.  However, there are some other inventors that Kleep doesn’t like at all.  Slurc, who is from the planet Urd, takes no notice of Kleep until he overhears another inventor telling Kleep about something he has recently learned about that comes from the planet Earth.

Earth is unaware of other planets, like the planet Astarr, where Kleep lives, but people do visit Earth secretly to study the people and their habits.  Kleep’s own parents mysteriously disappeared on a mission to Earth, and Kleep is determined to find them one day.  Pili, an inventor from Ruel, knows that Kleep is interested in anything about Earth, so he gives her an Earth doll.

Children on Astarr do not play with dolls, so Kleep doesn’t really understand what purpose they serve, and it makes her nervous that it looks so much like either a small person or robot but is not alive and does not do anything.  Then, Slurc, listening to their conversation, tells her that children on Urd play with dolls, but theirs are much better, and he promises to send her some that she can share with her friends.  Although Kleep does not really like Slurc, she thanks him for the offer just to be polite.

KleepDollsUrdPic1Sure enough, the dolls from Urd soon arrive, but they make Kleep even more nervous than the doll from Earth.  They seem a little too life-like, and one night, Kleep wakes up, certain that she heard them whispering to each other!

At first, her grandfather and her best friend, Till, think that she’s just imagining it because the dolls make her nervous.  However, when she gives a couple of the dolls to Till, he experiences the same thing!

The dolls from Urd are not normal, and Kleep is sure that they are there for a sinister purpose.  She and her friend must discover what it is and fast!

The setting and inventions on Kleep’s world are imaginative.  I especially like the idea of the learning devices that can send knowledge directly into your mind (maybe a little creepy, but certainly a time-saver).  The plot might seem a little far-fetched, but I liked it when I was a kid, and it’s still entertaining.  It’s my favorite book in the series.  I think of this book every time someone mentions Furbies or any similar sort of electronic toy that is supposed to speak to another.  Furbies especially talk to each other, and they look like they’re from outer space.  Who’s to say what sinister plots might be hatching in their furry little minds?

Posted on by TracyC

ColSec Rebellion

ColSecRebellionColSec Rebellion by Douglas Hill, 1985.

This is the final book in the ColSec Trilogy, a sci-fi series.

In a future where Earth is controlled by an oppressive government, dissidents are exiled to distant planets to start colonies whose resources can be exploited by the government.  However, the colonists have been plotting to take their destinies into their own hands.

Cord MaKiy and his friends, once exiled colonists on the planet Klydor, have joined up with the resistance movement.  They hijack a ColSec ship and return to Earth to gather allies for the rebellion against Earth’s government, called The Organization.

Once on Earth, they turn to the societies that they came from, little groups of outcasts on the fringes of Earth’s society. Cord’s people, the Highlanders who live in the wild areas of Scotland without modern technology, welcome them, and many of the young people are interested in joining the colonies, seeing other worlds, and living in freedom. Similarly, the rebels find more friends among the Vampires, the youth gang that lives in the Bunkers (what’s left of the old subway system under London).

However, the Streeters (a youth gang in the Chicago area) are a different story. Although many of them want to escape their little hideouts in the urban jungle called Limbo, their leader, Tuller, is unwilling to give up his relatively comfortable position of power. When he betrays the rebels to the government, the others have to decide where they stand and if they’re willing to take the risks necessary to gain their freedom.

In a way, the colonists seem to gain their ultimate freedom more easily than expected, but that’s partly a product of the type of repressive government that controls Earth. It isn’t really a military dictatorship, although they do use deadly force against their enemies; it’s more of a greedy corporate structure, designed to bring vast amounts of wealth to the people at the top of the structure, while keeping the lower levels in line to do their bidding.  In the end, as Lathan had guessed in the previous book, The Organization is more concerned with profit and loss than anything else, and the rebels manage to cut them a deal after showing them that fighting would only bring heavy losses with no material gain.

There’s plenty of action in the story as the young rebels struggle to prove themselves to potential allies on Earth and flee the forces of ColSec to return to Klydor, where they issue their ultimatum.  The negotiations with Earth are summed up fairly quickly, and although there are no more books in the series, the ending sets it up for Cord and his friends to continue their life of exploration on other worlds, seeking out new places for people who want to flee the dull repression that still exists on Earth.

Posted on by TracyC

The Caves of Klydor

CavesKlydorThe Caves of Klydor by Douglas Hill, 1984.

This is the second book in a sci-fi series, the ColSec Trilogy.

The five remaining colonists on the planet Klydor have been exploring their new planet and trying to survive and to decide what they will do when the government department that exiled them to this planet, ColSec, sends its ship to check on their progress.  Under Earth’s repressive government, dissents are sent into exile to become colonists on alien planets so that the government can later reap the benefits of anything they find or produce.

They get worried when a ship arrives on their planet earlier than expected.  While searching for the ship to see who it is, the colonists encounter Bren Lathan, the best space explorer that works for ColSec.  It’s his job to seek out new planets for ColSec to colonize.  But, it turns out that he’s not there on an assignment for ColSec.  He’s crash-landed on the planet, apparently frightened of pursuers, who may be the people in the space ship now on the planet.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Lathan is being hunted by CeeDees (Civil Defenders, the harsh law enforcement department that Earth’s government uses to keep the civilian population in line).  Worst still, these ones are Crushers, a group known for using extreme force and not leaving survivors.  They spot Cord and Samella, and they think that the two of them killed one of their people (who was actually killed by an alien creature).  Cord and Samella manage to get awhile, stealing one of the CeeDee’s weapons.

Then, they discover that the reason that the CeeDees are after Lathan is that he is involved with a rebellion against the government of Earth, a rebellion that these colonists would very much like to join.

The themes of the story are still survival and teamwork.  The colonists often have differing opinions about how to solve their problems, but they have to work them out because they only have each other to rely on.  Lathan, who is much older than they are, doesn’t really respect them much at first or want to involve them in his plans, comes to realize that their skills and ideas are valuable and that they may be just the people he needs.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Exiles of Colsec

ExilesColSecExiles of ColSec by Douglas Hill, 1984.

This is the first book in a sci-fi series, the ColSec Trilogy.

In the future, Earth is controlled by a repressive government that sends criminals and dissidents (especially strong youths) into exile on other planets. These exiles are assigned to different planets to form colonies by ColSec (short for Colonization Section). The government then reaps the benefits of whatever resources the colonists find or produce, all while keeping them at a safe distance to prevent them from starting rebellions.

The system works very well as far as the government is concerned, but this time, things don’t go according to plan.  The ship of dissident colonists destined for the planet Klydor crashes, killing most of the people on board.  There are only six survivors, all teenagers:

Cord — A boy from the Scottish Highlands, an area more wild and uncontrolled than most areas of Earth.

Samella — From the area once known as Minnesota (or possibly Manitoba, even the people who live there aren’t sure of the old name).  She lived as part of a commune until a harsh winter brought them to the brink of starvation, and her own family sold her into slavery.  On Klydor, she begins to discover that she has ESP.

Heleth — From the Bunkers, the old Underground tunnels under Old London.  She belonged to a gang called the Vampires, who purposely dye their skin jet black to blend into the darkness of their hidden homes.

Jeko and Rontal — a pair of Free Streeters, gang members from Limbo, in the area of what was once Chicago.

Lamprey — The most dangerous of all, a homicidal maniac who quickly forces the others to do his bidding for fear that he will kill them.

These few survivors are alone on a strange world, where they will have to figure out how to continue to survive and somehow create a life for themselves . . . if Lamprey doesn’t kill them all first.  The other rebels from Earth decide that they will have to stage a rebellion within their own group to get rid of Lamprey, and Cord finds himself appointed to be their leader.

But, it turns out that they aren’t quite as alone on Klydor as they thought, and possibly the most formidable creatures on the planet might be . . . the trees.

This is largely a story of survival as the colonists work together to protect themselves from Lamprey and uncover the secrets of their new world that will allow them to survive.  Samella’s ESP is what allows them to realize the truth about the forest where they have crashed.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.