Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor
Written by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by Brian Biggs
Take a kid genius inventor, add a couple of talking robots, throw in a pint-sized villain with a sidekick chimp, and you’ve got the ingredients for the first book of John Scieszka’s new six-book series.
Frank Einstein loves to use household items to invent all kinds of things in his Grampa Al’s garage. He wants to build a SmartBot that can think and learn, but a power outage thwarts his efforts. Later that night, a bolt of lightning causes an electrical spark to bring not one, but two robots to life: Klink, the wisecracking brainiac, and Klank, the emotional hugger. Along with his trusted friend Watson, Frank enlists Klink and Klank to help him develop his greatest invention yet: an antimatter motor, which he knows is a shoo-in to win the upcoming Midville Science Fair. Winning this competition means a lot to Frank as he plans to use the prize money to help save Grampa Al’s repair shop.
Disaster strikes when Frank’s invention ends up in the hands of his arch-nemesis, T. Edison, who not only uses the antimatter idea to win the science prize, but also kidnaps Klink and Klank. Frank must use scientific knowledge and logic to save his robots, overcome the enemy, and save the world from destruction. All in a day’s work for this super genius hero!
Scieszka continues his mission to bolster the reading habits of children, especially reluctant boy readers, by adding a healthy helping of silliness to the real principles of science: observation, hypothesis, results, and conclusion. Facts and figures are presented at a fourth grade level with help from Biggs, who creates easy diagrams and illustrations in a cartooning style.
Fun to read and good for you, too. A winning combination.
Title: Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor- Author: John Scieszka
- Illustrator: Brian Biggs
- Publisher: Amulet Books / Abrams, 2014
- Reviewer: Lauren Abbey Greenberg
- Format: Paperback, 192 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-4197-1218-0
- Genre: Fiction, Science fiction, Humor
