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Balloon Girls

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Times are tough in the small town of Yallaroo where Ally Simpson has lived her whole life. The whole area is in drought and people are going broke or moving away. So when Ally hears about a competition to win the trip of a lifetime to visit the Smithsonian Museum in the USA, she knows she's got to do everything she can to try and win.

Ally enlists her best friends Harmony and Ping to help her plan the most impressive experiment she can imagine: to send a video camera to the edge of space, and prove once and for all that the earth is round. At first, Ally is pretty sure she's got the whole competition stitched up. But then, as one disaster after another derails her plans, she begins to learn the importance of staying grounded even while she's aiming for the sky...

Darrell Pitt began his lifelong appreciation of Victorian literature when he read the Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, quickly moving on to H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. This early reading led to a love of comics, science fiction and all things geeky. Darrell is now married with one daughter. He lives in Melbourne.

'Readers will progress from snickers to giggles to, finally, belly laughs and shouts of outrage.' Kirkus Reviews on A Toaster on Mars

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    • Kirkus

      February 1, 2022
      What's a cool enough science project to win a tween in Australia a trip all the way to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.? Ally is bound and determined to win a national contest for year seven kids to show they understand the scientific method. First prize is a visit to the United States to visit museums she's always wanted to see. With the help of her best friends, Harmony and Ping, Ally comes up with the coolest idea: prove the Earth is spherical. After all, as her dad tells her, "it's easy to laugh at conspiracy theorists. The important thing is to prove it to yourself." It's trickier than the three girls expect to do their experiment. They have to deal with racist and fatphobic bullying, a devastating fire, and even just the science-confounding effects of weather and water. But each setback is a learning experience, and the girls improve their experimental design with each iteration. The bullies are over-the-top comically dunderheaded rather than frightening (going along with the misinformation-debunking theme, their science project is a lazy attempt to prove one of the most ridiculous real-world conspiracies). Educational content is mixed with light humor and a random-but-entertaining mystery. Except for Ping and science teacher Miss Kapoor, all characters appear to be White. A little bit mystery and suspense, a little bit fun science-fair nerdery. (Fiction. 9-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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