Chapter One Epic Arguments Paisley Atoms bounced in her seat She looked forward to science with Mrs Beaker every single day Paisley loved science more than almost anything Except her parents of course And her pet mongoose Newton And her best friend Ben Striker Good morning class said Mrs Beaker the fifth grade science teacher She stood in the front of the classroom and stretched out her hands It is time for our moment of science Mrs Beaker started every class with that pun The class had to be absolutely quiet for thirty seconds It was much harder than it sounded The class had learned not to groan or the moment of silence would be extended indefinitely Paisley put her hands on her desk and stared straight ahead If she looked at Ben on the right or her 6
friend Arjun on the left one of them would make a face and start them all giggling Mrs Beaker smiled broadly Fantastic Now everyone please turn to chapter seven in your textbooks We are starting our unit on outer space Thousands of years ago the world thought that Earth was the center of the universe Whitney-Raelynn thinks she’s the center of the universe Arjun said Several students snickered I heard that Whitney-Raelynn snapped She smoothed her perfectly straight and glossy blonde hair with her fingers Isn’t it true Even though she sounded like she was joking everyone knew she really wasn’t Whitney-Raelynn thought she was God’s gift to Roarington Elementary Unfortunately she was actually pretty smart and super talented at anything she tried It was extremely irritating Anyhoo Mrs Beaker said ignoring the class Now we know that our solar system revolves around the sun 7
Paisley’s hand shot up The astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that in 1543 Ah yes Paisley that is correct Thank you for that contribution Mrs Beaker said Our galaxy is known as the Milky Way Our solar system is inside the Milky Way It is made up of all of the planets that orbit the sun along with stars moons comets asteroids smaller minor planets Go Pluto Rosalind yelled Rosalind was the class Yes As we all know Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet There are eight actual planets Who would like to name them Paisley’s hand shot up again but Mrs Beaker called on Ben Everyone knew Ben loved astronomy His parents had named him after the astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker Ben also loved clocks inventing things and the creepy crawly creatures in the ant colonies and worm farms he kept in his closet instead of clothes Paisley and Ben were not only best friends they’d been next-door neighbors clown 8
since they were both in diapers Ben cleared his throat Starting from the sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune Would you like their sizes and distances from Earth Not right now Although I’m sure you know them by heart Thank you Ben We will start with the gas giants Arjun is a gas giant said a boy named Colton Several boys behind Paisley snickered Paisley rolled her eyes The gas giants are the four farthest planets from the sun They are made of a swirling mix of gases like hydrogen and helium with a liquid metal or rock core And Uranus and Neptune are made up of ammonia and methane Ben added Methane is what gives them their blue color Yes that’s right once again Mrs Beaker said with a sigh She always seemed a bit disappointed when Paisley and Ben knew all the answers already Let’s begin with Jupiter shall we Are there aliens on Jupiter Rosalind asked 9
