Chapter 2

2 "What about that one?" asked Pablo, pointing to a station with a few empty seats. Violet nodded. "Okay, let's check it out." The volunteer sitting at the table greeted them as they walked up. "Hi there! My name is Claire," she said. Claire sat between two other third graders. The twins Skylar and Devin looked exactly alike. Except Skylar had two puffball pigtails on top of her head. Devin's hair was cut short with a lightning bolt part shaved onto the side. He wore a coral necklace.

"We're baking brains!" said Claire. She pointed to the center of the table. There was a tub of dough, baking sheets, paint, and paintbrushes. "Ours are already cooked. Now we're painting them!" said Skylar. Violet squinted. "I thought this was a brain fair, not art class," she said. Claire laughed. "Scientists use art all the time! They draw or take pictures of the neat things they discover."

"Yeah, astronauts take all kinds of cool pictures from space!" said Pablo. "Exactly!" said Claire. She reached for the tub and stuck her hand in. She plopped two blobs of dough on the table. Pablo sat down. Violet sighed as she took a seat next to him. This would have to do for now. "Cool!" said Pablo. "What are those?" He pointed to three pointy white objects hanging from

Devin's necklace. "Shark teeth!" replied Devin. "My aunt gave it to me. She got it on a trip to Puerto Rico." "I'm from Puerto Rico!" said Pablo with excitement in his voice. Skylar pushed her painted brain toward the center of the table. "Ta-da!" she said. "Nice job, sis!" said Devin. He gave his sister two high fives and a fist bump. "It looks almost as good as my drawing!" said Skylar. She opened a small sketch pad that was lying on the table. "You made two beautiful brains!" said Claire. "Do you want to tell the group about the different parts?" Skylar took a deep breath. "Okay." First, she pointed to the large upper portion that was painted red. "This part is called the suh-REE-brum. Did I say that right?"

"Yes, perfect!" said Claire. "The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. It's really important for learning and memory. And it helps us make decisions." Then Skylar pointed to a round part toward the bottom that was painted blue. "This is a tough one." She paused. Her brother helped her out. "That's the sar-a- BEL-lum!"

"The cerebellum, oh yeah!" repeated Skylar. "What does that do?" asked Violet. "It helps our body and muscles work together to move," replied Claire with a smile. "It's also important for balance." "Like when we play soccer!" said Pablo. "Yup!" said Claire. "You definitely need your cerebellum when you play soccer." "And this is the brain stem," continued Skylar, pointing to a long skinny part sticking out of the back. It was painted yellow. "Our brain stem makes sure that we're always breathing and that our hearts are always beating,"