A Problematic Paradox
By: Eliot Sappingfield
Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this wild, warm-hearted, and hilarious sci-fi debut about a brainy young girl who is recruited for a very special boarding school.
"It's like Harry Potter, but with science instead of magic. Nikola is exactly the smart female protagonist that the sci-fi genre needs."--HelloGiggles
Nikola Kross has given up on living in harmony with classmates and exasperated teachers: she prefers dabbling in experimental chemistry to fitting in. But when her life is axially inverted by a gang of extraterrestrials who kidnap her dad and attempt to recruit her into their service, she discovers he's been keeping a world of secrets from her--including the school for geniuses where she's sent for refuge, a place where classes like Practical Quantum Mechanics are the norm and where students use wormholes to commute to class. For Nikola, the hard part isn't school, it's making friends, especially when the student body isn't (entirely) human. But the most puzzling paradox of all is Nikola herself, who has certain abilities that no one understands--abilities that put her whole school in greater danger than she could have imagined.
*"A glorious cacophony of wildly inventive gadgets, gags, and action." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"An amazing and often hilarious world that feels like a blend of A Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter, but with futuristic inventions rather than magic." --School Library Connection, starred review
"Smart, energetic, and original.... Readers will willingly jump with Nikola into the nearest wormhole and next adventure." --School Library Journal
1. Make a collage of experiences and inventions that Nikola encounters. She didn't know all of the things that her father was doing, what "thing" do you think was the best? Be imaginative and have fun!
2. Make a model of a scene from the book. You can use a box and create things from what you learned/read in the book, or you can draw what you think the description talks about. There are many interesting things in the book, be creative and specific.
3. The Problematic Paradox was published in 2018. Do you think that it will someday become a movie? Create a poster that would "SELL" this book to a producer. You decide on the scenes from the book that would be the best way to sell it to someone. What from the book would make it exciting for the audience? Include the title of the book and the author, a listing of the main characters and the actors from today who you think would be best to play these characters. Make sure the picture you include in the poster "sells" it!!
By: Eliot Sappingfield
Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this wild, warm-hearted, and hilarious sci-fi debut about a brainy young girl who is recruited for a very special boarding school.
"It's like Harry Potter, but with science instead of magic. Nikola is exactly the smart female protagonist that the sci-fi genre needs."--HelloGiggles
Nikola Kross has given up on living in harmony with classmates and exasperated teachers: she prefers dabbling in experimental chemistry to fitting in. But when her life is axially inverted by a gang of extraterrestrials who kidnap her dad and attempt to recruit her into their service, she discovers he's been keeping a world of secrets from her--including the school for geniuses where she's sent for refuge, a place where classes like Practical Quantum Mechanics are the norm and where students use wormholes to commute to class. For Nikola, the hard part isn't school, it's making friends, especially when the student body isn't (entirely) human. But the most puzzling paradox of all is Nikola herself, who has certain abilities that no one understands--abilities that put her whole school in greater danger than she could have imagined.
*"A glorious cacophony of wildly inventive gadgets, gags, and action." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"An amazing and often hilarious world that feels like a blend of A Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter, but with futuristic inventions rather than magic." --School Library Connection, starred review
"Smart, energetic, and original.... Readers will willingly jump with Nikola into the nearest wormhole and next adventure." --School Library Journal
1. Make a collage of experiences and inventions that Nikola encounters. She didn't know all of the things that her father was doing, what "thing" do you think was the best? Be imaginative and have fun!
2. Make a model of a scene from the book. You can use a box and create things from what you learned/read in the book, or you can draw what you think the description talks about. There are many interesting things in the book, be creative and specific.
3. The Problematic Paradox was published in 2018. Do you think that it will someday become a movie? Create a poster that would "SELL" this book to a producer. You decide on the scenes from the book that would be the best way to sell it to someone. What from the book would make it exciting for the audience? Include the title of the book and the author, a listing of the main characters and the actors from today who you think would be best to play these characters. Make sure the picture you include in the poster "sells" it!!