7. Galileo in the Library

7 Galileo in the Library So we still had to get some dirt on the Snowman. But how? "We need to play it cool," Alexia said. "Let's just pretend everything is normal. The Snowman will show his true colors. Then we can nail him." Huh? What do colors have to do with anything? People talk funny.

That afternoon, we had library class with Mrs. Roopy. We walked a million hundred miles to the media center, which used to be called the library before they changed the name. Nobody knows why. When we got to the media center, Mrs. Roopy wasn't there. Instead, there was some guy who looked a lot like Mrs. Roopy with a beard. She's always pretending to be somebody else. One time, she dressed up like Neil Armstrong. Mrs. Roopy is loopy. "Why do you have a beard today, Mrs. Roopy?" Ryan asked. "Who's Mrs. Roopy?" said Mrs. Roopy. "I'm Galileo, the famous sixteenth-century scientist." "Wait," I said. "You only have one name?" "No," said Galileo. "Galileo is just my first name." "So what's your last name?" asked

Andrea. "Galilei," said Galileo. "Your first name is Galileo and your last name is Galilei?" asked Michael. "That's right," said Galileo Galilei. "It sounded so nice, my parents made it my name twice. I'm surprised you never heard of me. I discovered the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn with my early telescope. I was the first person to see craters on the moon. I'm from Italy." "I like pizza," said Ryan. "Everybody likes pizza," said Galileo. "Hey, I hear you're going to have a science fair next week." "Yes," said Andrea. "Each of us has to make a science project."

"Well, you came to the right place," said Galileo. "There are lots of books in the media center filled with fun science projects for kids." Galileo passed out a bunch of books for us to look over. "Oh, cool!" said Neil. "It says here that you can build a catapult with just a plastic spoon, some rubber bands, and Popsicle sticks. It shoots marshmallows!"

"That would make a great project for the science fair," said Galileo. "You know, science is all about asking 'why' questions. Why is the sky blue? Why do fish swim and birds fly? Can any of you think of a why question?" "Yeah," I said, "why do we have to do a science project?" Galileo passed out. I mean, he passed out pencils and papers so we could take notes and draw pictures for our science projects. "I'm going to build a pasta rocket," said Ryan. "It uses uncooked pasta, mouthwash, and yeast for fuel." "I'm going to build a fizz inflator," said Michael. "I just need to put baking soda and vinegar in a soda bottle and attach a balloon to the end to inflate it. The reaction makes carbon dioxide to inflate the balloon."

"I'm going to build an exploding lunch bag," said Alexia. "You just take a Ziploc freezer bag and fill it with warm water, baking soda, and vinegar." "I'm going to build a flying drone," I said. Drones are cool. I always wanted to have my own drone. I was drawing a picture of my drone when I got another great idea. I could attach some Porky's Pork Sausages to the bottom of my drone so it could deliver sausages by air. Then you wouldn't have to go to the supermarket when you're in the mood for a pork sausage. It was genius!* "What are you going to make for your science project, Andrea?" asked Emily. Andrea was covering her worksheet with her hands so nobody could see it. "I'm working on a secret science project," she said mysteriously.