Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. Read-a-thon # 10
The Danny Dunn books were sf adventures written in the 1950s and 1960s for children, about the adventures of impulsive Danny Dunn, whose mother was the housekeeper for the all-purpose scientist professor Bullfinch, gloomy Joe, and sensible Irene. (Irene was my favorite.)
Though dated now, they worked as fun adventures that featured accurate science - that is, while they had anti-gravity paint and smallifying machines, the information about subjects like gravity and surface tension would be correct and presented in a clear, easy-to-grasp form. In fact, I learned about surface tension from the part of Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine in which the shrunken kids had to break the surface of a water droplet in order to drink.
In this one, Danny keeps daydreaming about space flight in class, prompting his teacher to assign him the task of writing, “Space flight is a hundred years away” a hundred times. But when his homework gets accidentally taken aboard the top secret spaceship painted with the anti-gravity paint Professor Bullfinch recently discovered, and so happens to be in Danny’s backyard, he goes to retrieve it and accidentally launches himself, Joe, and two professors into spaaaaace!
This is technically a re-read, but I think the last time I read this one, I was nine. The only reason I know that I read it at all was that I remember Danny presenting his teacher with the hundreds of sentences at the end. This is # 2 in the series and Irene isn’t in it; I missed her. It’s kind of wobbly and uncertain in tone and pacing, unlike the more assured later entries. My favorites are the ones that have more of a sense of awe and wonder, not to mention Irene: The Smallifying Machine and The Ocean Floor.
Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint
Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor No 9
Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine, No. 1
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/900148.html. Comment here or there.
Though dated now, they worked as fun adventures that featured accurate science - that is, while they had anti-gravity paint and smallifying machines, the information about subjects like gravity and surface tension would be correct and presented in a clear, easy-to-grasp form. In fact, I learned about surface tension from the part of Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine in which the shrunken kids had to break the surface of a water droplet in order to drink.
In this one, Danny keeps daydreaming about space flight in class, prompting his teacher to assign him the task of writing, “Space flight is a hundred years away” a hundred times. But when his homework gets accidentally taken aboard the top secret spaceship painted with the anti-gravity paint Professor Bullfinch recently discovered, and so happens to be in Danny’s backyard, he goes to retrieve it and accidentally launches himself, Joe, and two professors into spaaaaace!
This is technically a re-read, but I think the last time I read this one, I was nine. The only reason I know that I read it at all was that I remember Danny presenting his teacher with the hundreds of sentences at the end. This is # 2 in the series and Irene isn’t in it; I missed her. It’s kind of wobbly and uncertain in tone and pacing, unlike the more assured later entries. My favorites are the ones that have more of a sense of awe and wonder, not to mention Irene: The Smallifying Machine and The Ocean Floor.
Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint
Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor No 9
Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine, No. 1
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/900148.html. Comment here or there.