able to hear me,” Einstein told Bill.
“Except maybe
you and Ned.”
“You forget I’m a sound
engineer,” Bill answered. “By
the time I get you mic’d up,
everyone will be able to hear you,
even the viewers at home.”
This was incredible! To have people
not just in the same room but all
around the world listening to his Tasty
Tidbits? It was too good to be true.
Einstein handed Marlon the wig
and costume he’d brought along just
in case.
“What am I supposed to do with
these?” Marlon asked.
“Every game show host has an
assistant! It’ll be YOUR job to point
to the prizes.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Marlon
said. “Besides there’s no assistant on
this game show.”
“Come on!” Einstein pleaded. “Can’t
you just play along?”
“Sorry, Einstein. You’re on your own.”
Einstein begrudgingly slipped on his
bow tie while Bill clipped a microphone
on him. “This is a super-duper
magnified mic,” he said. “EVERYONE
will be able to hear you.” Bill called
over the director. “I found a new
host. You want to meet him?”
When the director asked the sound
engineer if this was a joke, Einstein
tried not to take it personally. He
knew a hamster with encyclopedic
knowledge was a lot for some people
to understand.
“What are these—animatronic
pets?” the director asked.
Bill gave Einstein a quick wink, then
turned back to the director. “That’s
exactly what they are. I think the
hamster will make a fun replacement
host.”
Einstein and Marlon tried their best
to look animatronic as the director
examined them. “This might be good
with our kid viewers,” the director
finally said. “Let’s give it a try.”
HOW DO I LET
MYSELF GET TALKED
INTO THESE THINGS?
YES! “Are you SURE you don’t want
to join me on stage?” Einstein asked
Marlon.
“Absolutely, 100 percent sure,”
Marlon answered.
But before he stepped into his
responsibilities as host, Einstein had
to share the good news with someone
special.
“Ned!”
The first people who worked with
animatronics were clockmakers who
created characters that popped out of
clocks at different hours. Leonardo da
Vinci designed a mechanical lion for the
King of France in 1515. Unfortunately,
all that’s left of the robot lion today are
da Vinci’s drawings.
The father of modern animatronics
was Walt Disney, who created a
mechanical Abraham Lincoln for the
1964 New York World’s Fair. The
animatronic Lincoln then moved to
Disneyland, where he can be seen
today. Animatronic technology has
been used in lots of movies—from Jaws
to E.T. to Jurassic Park and more.
I DIDN’T
EAT THE BIRD,
I SWEAR!
CHAPTER TEN
bUt wHeRe iS
tWiNkLeS?
“Twinkles! Where are you?” Principal
Decker screamed as he ran through
the studio.
Ms. Moreno hurried behind him. “I’m
sure he’s around here somewhere.”
Ned broke away from the group
when he heard Einstein calling.
“You’ll never believe who’s going to
replace the host,” Einstein said.
Ned’s face broke into a giant smile.
“You don’t mean—”
“The director thinks that I’m
animatronic, but everyone will find
out soon enough that I’m a real live
class hamster.” Einstein introduced
Ned to Bill the sound engineer.
“You can hear him too?” Ned asked.
“EVERYBODY’S going to hear him in
a few minutes,” Bill said. “Let’s see if
Einstein is as good
as the turtle says
he is.”
“The name is Marlon,” the turtle
answered.
“Back to your places,”
the director called.
The only person
who didn’t follow the
director’s instructions
was Principal Decker,
still racing through the
studio looking for Twinkles.
“Ms. Moreno and the whole class
will finally know how intelligent you
are,” Ned told Einstein. “Not to
mention everyone else in the world.”
Einstein was smart enough to
know that something was troubling
Ned. He asked his friend what was
wrong.
TWINKLES!
“If everyone can hear you, I won’t
be special anymore,” Ned confessed.
“After this, everyone will want to be
your friend.”
“Are you kidding?” Einstein said.
“You’re my BEST FRIEND. You’ll
always be special.”
If Ned really WAS Einstein’s
best friend, he shouldn’t be jealous.
He decided to trust Einstein and let
the class know how great his little
buddy was.
Ned brought Einstein over to the
host’s podium. “Okay, let’s get this
show on the road.”
Einstein couldn’t wait to get
started. He glanced at Lance
Weaver’s notes—fun facts about
solids and liquids, rocks and minerals,
spiders and bees. All Einstein had ever
wanted was to share these kinds of
Tasty Tidbits with kids. His lifetime
dream was about to come true.
Honeybees have been around for
more than 30 million years. Bees have
to visit more than 2 million flowers to
make just one pound of honey, which
is the primary food eaten by humans
that’s made by an insect. Honey is one
of the only foods eaten by humans
that’s made by an insect and is one
of the few foods that won’t spoil.
Honeybees perform an elaborate
routine called a waggle dance to tell
other bees where flowers are located;
when scientists studied their dances,
they found the bees were giving
complex information about distance
and angles. Honeybees are not only
dancers—they’re math nerds!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
pRiNcIpAl dEcKeR
cAuSeS a sCeNe
Back at their podiums, Ned leaned in
toward Bonnie. “Wait until you see
this! You’re not going to believe it.”
Bonnie pointed to the host’s
podium. “What’s Einstein doing up
there? I thought we had to hide him.”
“THAT’S the surprise,” Ned
answered.
“But
who’s going to be the host?”
Ricky pointed to the other team, who
hadn’t budged, even through all the
commotion. “We’ve GOT to beat
these guys.”
“We’re definitely going to beat
them,” Ned said. “But I hope Ms.
Moreno wakes up. She needs to see
this too.” He pointed to their teacher
lying across the first row of the
studio audience with her arm wrapped
around a woman’s shoulder.
“I was just spying on the other
team,” Ricky said. “They’re studying
up on the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World. Do you think that’s
the next category?”
But before Ned or Bonnie could
answer, the director grabbed a mic
and addressed everyone in the studio.
Ms. Moreno awoke with a start and
scrambled back to the stage.
“We’ve got a little something
different planned,” the director said.
“It’s a bit of an experiment, so let’s
see how it goes.” He looked around
the set and asked the sound engineer
if he was ready.
Bill nodded and began counting off
for Einstein. “Five...four...three...”
This is it! Einstein thought. The
moment I’ve been waiting for!
“What’s Einstein doing up there?”
Ms. Moreno asked groggily.
“You’re about to find out,” Ned
answered.
“ACTION!” the director shouted.
But nothing happened.
Nothing at all.
These are the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World.
•The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq
•The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
•The Temple of Artemis, Turkey
•The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece
•The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece
•The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt
•The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Turkey
The only one of the ancient wonders
still standing is the Great Pyramid of
Giza, built in 2560 B.C. The Colossus of
Rhodes lasted only 56 years before it
was destroyed in an earthquake. But the
design lives on; that ancient wonder was
the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty.
“The New Colossus,” a poem written by
Emma Lazarus, is engraved on a bronze
plaque on the Statue of Liberty’s
pedestal.
DO YOU
COME HERE
OFTEN?
CHAPTER TWELVE
aNoThEr kInD oF
pHoBiA
“Cut!” the director shouted. “There
must be something wrong with the
mic.”
Ned watched as Bill adjusted the
super-powerful mic clipped onto
Einstein’s bow tie.
“Why is Einstein here?” Ms. Moreno
repeated. “And where is Principal
Decker?”
Ned explained that the principal was
still on the hunt for Twinkles. He hoped
Ms. Moreno would focus on the snake
and not on Einstein. He then hurried
over to Bill to see what was going on.
“The mic seems to be fine,” Bill said.
“Let me do some checking.” The
director followed Bill to the sound
board.
“I’m sorry they’re having
technical problems.”
Ned realized Einstein
was shaking. “Don’t
worry, buddy.
I’m sure they’ll
straighten
this out.”
“The only technical problem is ME,”
Einstein whispered. “I...I...I have
stage fright.”
“What are you talking about?” Ned
asked. “You do this every day!”
“But never in front of a REAL
audience, with REAL contestants.”
Einstein hated to admit the truth.
“I’m scared.”
Ned was surprised by Einstein’s
confession. Hosting a game show was
Einstein’s lifelong dream. How could
he possibly be afraid?
“You’re going to be fine,” Ned
reassured him. “Marlon thinks so too.”
He nudged Marlon forward to
encourage Einstein.
“If anyone can do this, you can,”
Marlon said.
But Einstein just stared at his
friends. He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t
smile. He couldn’t even blink.
“What are we going to do?” Marlon
asked Ned. “I’ve never seen him like this.”
Ned looked at the director and
engineer examining the sound board.
He had to think of something, and fast.
“I saw the snake!”
Ned yelled. “Behind
the director’s chair!”
SNAKE!
“Where?” Principal Decker screamed.
The director jumped into Bill’s arms.
Ms. Moreno scanned the room.
“Why are all the class pets here? You
kids have a LOT of explaining to do.”
In the midst of the chaos, Ned and
Marlon snuck Einstein off the stage.
Most people forget their dreams as
soon as they wake up, but some people
remember them and put their dreams
to good use.
Nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley came up with the idea for her
novel Frankenstein during a dream. The
plot of Robert Louis Stevenson’s horror
novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde was also formed during the
author’s dream. The singer/songwriter
Paul McCartney woke up from a dream
with the tune to his biggest hit, “Yesterday,”
in his head. Elias Howe had been trying to
invent an automatic way to sew but could
never come up with how to thread the
needle—until he had a dream about natives
holding spears. The spears all had holes in
their tips; when Howe woke up, he tried
putting the hole at the TIP of the needle
instead of the base where it had always
been, thus fixing the problem and
inventing the sewing
machine.
So pay attention
to your dreams!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
a hEaRt -tO-
hEaRt tAlK
“We should’ve brought your tank,”
Ned told Einstein. “Maybe running
around your wheel would help.”
Einstein’s friends couldn’t
understand his sadness. He had a big
goal but today he didn’t have the skill
to pull it off.
“You’re not quitting, are you?” Ned
asked. “You’re the one who always
says winners never quit.”
“And quitters never win,” Marlon
added.
“This is different,” Einstein whispered.
“When it comes to performing in front
of a real audience, I’m a failure.”
“Has anybody seen our class
hamster?” Ned said. “Because THIS
hamster is definitely not Einstein.”
Marlon pretended to look around
&nb
sp; the room. “I think Einstein went to
get a coffee,” he said. “Let’s go
find him.”
“This IS the real me!” Einstein’s
heart was beating so fast, he
wondered if he was having a panic
attack. “I’m such a disappointment.”
Ned smiled. Einstein was an expert
on every subject they taught at
Boerring Elementary, but today
the subject he was concentrating
on was drama.
“Remember when I didn’t care
about the class audition and you
came to my house to study?” Ned
asked. “You wouldn’t let me give up
then, and I’m not going to let you
give up now.”
Marlon scurried over with some
sunflower seeds from the snack table.
“Maybe if you eat, you’ll feel better.”
But Einstein was too nervous
to eat.
“Let’s do some relaxation exercises,”
Ned said. “They usually help.”
As Einstein and Ned took several
deep breaths, Marlon tiptoed away.
He knew just the thing to get
Einstein the Class Hamster and the Very Real Game Show (Einstein the Class Hamster Series) Page 3