The Space Disaster (Mad Scientist Academy Series #3)

by Matthew McElligott

Overview

Fans of Ada Twist, Scientist, will want to join Dr. Cosmic’s class of clever monsters as they tackle gravity, comets, and many moons in the third book of the Mad Scientist Academy series.
 
When Dr. Cosmic’s class meets Commander Nova, the school astronomer, they know their next lesson will be out of this world!
 
With the help of Dr. Cosmic’s latest invention—a planetarium—the class must complete four challenges. Each time the planetarium shifts and the atmosphere changes, the students find themselves floating from planet to planet. They put their new magnetic antigravity belts and trusted handbooks to the test to figure out where in the solar system Dr. Cosmic’s invention has “sent” them—and how to land safely back on Earth.

Don't Miss Mad Scientist Academy: The Ocean Disaster!

"Young readers can only hope for this much excitement on their real field trips." —Kirkus Reviews

"[A] space adventure that young readers will pore over, learn from, and enjoy." —School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553523850
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	07/09/2019
Series:	Mad Scientist Academy Series , #3
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	311,392
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Matthew McElligott is the author of many books for children including the Mad Scientist Academy series, Even Monsters Need Haircuts, and the Benjamin Franklinstein series. Like the planet Neptune, he is large, dim, and gassy. In spite of this, a beautiful woman named Christy married him and now helps him with all his books. You can visit him at matthewmcelligott.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Young readers can only hope for this much excitement on their real field trips." —Kirkus Reviews

"[A] space adventure that young readers will pore over, learn from, and enjoy." —School Library Journal


Praise for Mad Scientist Academy: The Weather Disaster
“With outlandish situations rendering scientific concepts memorable, McElligott has concocted a winning formula for learning as entertainment.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Engaging and educational." —Booklist
 
“There’s enough fun here for anyone.” —School Library Journal
 
“No need for MSA kids to take a field trip: what could be more interesting than school?” —The Bulletin


Praise for Mad Scientist Academy: The Dinosaur Disaster
“Dr. Cosmic is plainly a colleague of Ms. Frizzle, and the mix of pithy banter, tumultuous field-trip mishaps, and science fact is as familiar as it is winning. Fans of the Frizz will be dino-delighted. Mad fun.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Like Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen’s ‘Magic School Bus’ series (Scholastic), the use of a school setting, a quirky teacher, and wild hands-on learning situations provides an engaging blend of humor, adventure, and information.” —School Library Journal

“One of Summer’s Must-Read Children’s Books.” —Bookish.com

Kids’ Indie Next List

From the Publisher

05/01/2017
Gr 1–3—In the latest adventure in the series, the intrepid monster students head into space. With the guidance of their goofy teacher, Dr. Cosmic, the kids use the amped up planetarium to experience the solar system in a dangerously close-up way. As the malfunctioning planetarium mimics the atmospheres of moons, planets, and comets, the students have to use their knowledge to solve three challenges to complete their assignment and escape the perils of space! Information about basic physical concepts such as gravity and more complex astronomical objects, including asteroids, meteoroids, and comets, is integrated into the story very naturally. The comic-style layout and light, simple dialogue are appealing and give the narrative an action-packed feel. VERDICT This book will easily find a place on fun nonfiction shelves or as part of a beginning graphic novel collection. The result is the same—it's a space adventure that young readers will pore over, learn from, and enjoy.—Marian McLeod, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT

School Library Journal

2017-03-29
The diverse young monsters of the Mad Scientist Academy take a whirlwind tour of the solar system thanks to an unusually realistic planetarium.In what amounts to an updated Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (1990), orange-haired, green-skinned Dr. Cosmic, hanging from an orrery on the ceiling, lectures on the orbits and relative distances of the eight planets. He then issues anti-gravity belts and leads the students to a planetarium that (seemingly) whisks them off to Mars before departing on an errand. Cue the computer gone haywire, which transports the class to three more un-Earthly locales: Saturn's clouds; a Jovian moon; and a comet blasting out a tail. Being more serious-minded sorts than Ms. Frizzle's coterie, the students exchange informational observations rather than jokes while rescuing one another from various pickles. Along with tucking in frequent factual asides about planetary conditions and other astronomical topics, McElligott closes with a summary infographic. Still, his large panels of comic art are well-stocked with sound effects and whooping alarms, sudden changes in setting, and bodies flying every which way. Rescue comes at last as the virtual blasts within the planetarium are capped by an actual one that lets in the sunlight. Young readers can only hope for this much excitement on their real field trips. (Graphic informational fantasy. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews