by Jon Scieszka
Teeth are the only part of the human body that cannot repair themselves.
Body contains hydrogen, oxygen, carbon. Also nickel, copper, silicon, and zinc.
The amount of carbon in a human body is enough to fill about 9,000 pencils.
Acid in stomach can dissolve metal.
Hair is almost indestructible.
Babies start dreaming before they are born.
PITCHING WITH JANEGOODALL
Good pitching starts with a good grip. Here is how to grip and throw the ball for three pitches you need to know.
CURVEBALL
The curveball spins in the opposite direction from the fastball—from top to bottom. This pitch curves down and in toward a right-handed batter.
• Grip the ball with your middle finger along the bottom seam of the baseball.
• Place your index finger alongside your middle finger.
• Position your thumb on the back seam.
• Throw this pitch snapping your middle finger down and pushing your thumb up.
FOUR-SEAM FASTBALL
This is a fast, straight, no-movement pitch. It spins from the bottom to the top.
• Grip the ball with your index and middle fingers across the two seams of the ball where they are widest apart.
• Place your thumb directly beneath your index and middle fingers, on the center of the seam at the bottom of the baseball.
• Hold the ball gently, as if you are holding an egg.
• Throw with maximum speed and backspin as you release the ball.
KNUCKLEBALL
The perfect knuckleball spins with almost no rotation. That’s what makes it move in strange and unpredictable ways.
• Press the fingernails of your index, middle, and ring fingers into the ball just behind the seams.
• Place your thumb under the ball, on the bottom seam.
• Pitch with a stiff wrist, pushing the ball toward home plate.
• Finish the pitch extending your fingers straight out, so the ball spins as little as possible.
WATSON’S INVENTOR CORNER
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, scientist, and inventor.
He was born in the town of Vinci in Italy in 1452.
His name just means “Leonardo of Vinci.”
Leonardo invented early versions of the helicopter, parachute, tank, giant crossbow, flying machine, and scuba gear. And a robotic knight.
Leonardo painted The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo, like me, was left-handed, and he wrote a lot of his notes in mirror-image cursive—which made it very hard for people to figure out just how brilliant he was.
Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man is a study on the proportions of the ideal human body. He believed that the human body revealed the universe. And so do I.
CLARENCE CRANE
In 1912, chocolate maker Clarence Crane of Garrettsville, Ohio, was looking for a sweet candy that wouldn’t melt in the summer heat like his chocolate did.
Crane pressed mint candy into little round shapes with a hole in the middle that looked like tiny life-preserver rings.
So he called them Life Savers.
In 1935, cherry and pineapple flavors were added to the original lemon, lime, and orange . . . to make the classic Five Flavor Roll.
In 2003, Life Savers announced plans to add blackberry to the Five Flavor Roll. People freaked out. Life Savers returned to the classic five flavors.
Life Savers have been around for over 100 years.
The original roll cost 5¢.
BOB AND MARY EINSTEIN’S
TRAVELALLOVERTHEPLACE.COM
TRAVEL HOT SPOT!
THE MÜTTER MUSEUM
Philadelphia, PA
United States of America
If you love skulls and bones and brains and collections that are just a little creepy, you will love the Mütter Museum.
WHAT?
America’s finest museum of medical history.
WHY?
The Mütter Museum’s goal is to help visitors become “Disturbingly Informed.”
HOW?
Amazing displays of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments.
WHO?
You . . . can see on display:
• Sections of Albert Einstein’s brain!
• The Hyrtl Skull Collection. A collection of 189 skulls!
• A plaster cast of conjoined twins Chang and Eng and their livers!
• The Dr. Jackson Collection of 2,374 inhaled or swallowed foreign objects, including coins, buttons, beads, bolts, safety pins, screws, jewelry, keys, toy jacks, watch, crucifix, lock, bullet, thumbtacks, needles, keys, miniature horse charm, tiny binoculars, and so much more. Collected and lovingly cataloged by Dr. Chevalier Quixote Jackson (1865–1958).
WHAT WHAT?
The Mütter Museum Store sells: Conjoined-twin cookie cutters, glass skull drinking cups, human tooth jewelry.
WHERE?
19 S. 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA
Muttermuseum.org
WHEN?
Monday–Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving, December 24–25,
January 1
KLANK’S TURING TEST
Alan Turing was a British computer scientist. In 1950, he made a test to consider the question, can machines think?
To find out if you are human or machine, answer the questions below.
For each correct answer, give yourself 1 point. If you score 3 or more points, you are probably human. If you score 2 points or less, you are most likely a machine.
“Wait, wait, wait a minute!” says Klink. “That is not the Turing test.”
“It kind of is,” says Klank.
“It is not.”
“Well, it should be. Because it is very funny.”
ANSWERS
MR. CHIMP’s WORD SEARCH
JON SCIESZKA is composed of mostly oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and a dash of magnesium. He started as a zygote, then became the author of a lot of books, the founder of Guys Read, and the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and happily uses his body every day.
BRIAN BIGGS has illustrated books by Garth Nix, Cynthia Rylant, and Katherine Applegate, and is the writer and illustrator of the Everything Goes series. He lives in Philadelphia. He lives pretty close to the Franklin Institute.
TO THE INSPIRATIONAL MRS. WATSON, AND EVERY INSPIRING SCIENCE TEACHER
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. NAMES, CHARACTERS, PLACES, AND INCIDENTS ARE EITHER THE PRODUCT OF THE AUTHOR’S IMAGINATION OR ARE USED FICTITIOUSLY, AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS, EVENTS, OR LOCALES IS ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
SCIESZKA, JON.
FRANK EINSTEIN AND THE BRAINTURBO / JON SCIESZKA ; ILLUSTRATED BY BRIAN BIGGS.
PAGES CM. — (FRANK EINSTEIN ; 3)
ISBN 978-1-4197-1643-0 (HARDBACK) — ISBN 978-1-61312-829-9 (EBOOK)
[1. ROBOTS—FICTION. 2. INVENTORS—FICTION. 3. HUMAN BODY—FICTION. 4. HUMOROUS STORIES. 5. SCIENCE FICTION.] I. BIGGS, BRIAN, ILLUSTRATOR. II. TITLE.
PZ7.S41267FRM 2015
[FIC]—DC23
2015004219
TEXT COPYRIGHT © 2015 JON SCIESZKA
ILLUSTRATIONS COPYRIGHT © 2015 BRIAN BIGGS
BOOK DESIGN BY CHAD W. BECKERMAN
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