About the Book: Meet Fisher Bas: 12 years-old, growth-stunted, a geeky science genius, and son of the Nobel Prize-winning creators of the Bas-Hermaphrodite-Sea-Slug-Hypothesis. No surprise: Fisher isn’t exactly the most popular kid in his middle-school, tormented daily by the beefy, overgrown goons he calls The Vikings. But he senses relief when he comes upon the idea of cloning himself–creating a second Fisher to go to school each day while he stays at home playing video games and eating cheetos with ketchup. It’s an ingenious plan that works brilliantly, until Fisher’s clone turns out to be more popular than him–and soon after gets clone-napped by the evil scientist Dr. Xander.
My Two Cents: This is a fun, sometimes silly book that reluctant readers will probably love. There’s plenty of zany science fiction here that’s rooted just enough in real science that it might make kids curious enough to experiment themselves.
Grade Level: 4-7 (some challenging science vocabulary and middle school themes)
Additional Resources:
- The Clone Chronicles website–especially the Experiments section!
- Do your own cloning experiment: How to Clone a Potato from the Biotechnology Learning Lab at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
- History of Vikings (for kids) Why do you think Fischer called the bullies at his school Vikings?
- Insight into Gassy Greg: The Science of Farting (Proceed with caution)
More to Read:
- Another unlikely hero who triumphs in spite of industrial espionage: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
- More smart kids whose curiosity gets them into trouble: The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
- Another self-described wimp who’d probably be happy to eat junk food with Fischer Bas: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney