The Great Science Fair Disaster

by Martyn Godfrey

Marcie, the principal's daughter and a student in his seventh-grade science class, has witnessed her father's disastrous science projects before, so she shudders when she hears him announce the First Annual Fifth Street School Science Fair.

Genres: Childrens

Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

About the author

Martyn N. Godfrey (April 17, 1949—2000) was an English-Canadian author of children's fantasy books. Born in Birmingham, England, he moved to Toronto, Ontario when he was eight. Godfrey graduated from university in 1974 with a teaching degree.

Godfrey was the Edmonton Public Library’s writer-in-residence in 1989. He died in 2000. The Young Alberta Book Association presents an annual Martyn Godfrey Young Writers Award in his name.

Reviews

[Laina SpareTime]

Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and links and everything.

This is funny. It's a little overly clever at times, like a lot of the characters are a little too quick to come up with a smart reply, but it's not exactly high literature, so I'm fine with that, honestly. It's funny, it's cute, and sometimes it is quite smart. One part has favoritism discussed, and how Marcie struggles with the reverse as the principal's daughter. She talks about how she's expected to be better than other kids, how she's treated differently, and how she's punished for things that happen at school in a way other kids aren't.

There's even a discussion of sexism. Marcie gets complimented by a boy on her looks, and she comments that, especially because of his choice of words, she's not entirely sure if she finds it flattering, or insulting.

I have a favourite book by this author that I read a ton growing up (it may come up in a later post - we'll see), and I've probably read a couple others, including this one at some point, and I tend to enjoy them. There are no stereotypes or anything like that to worry about in this, and the only really adult thing is one use of "perverted". but even that is used in a pretty juvenile way, with a character calling their younger brother that over an underwear fascination.

It's funny and it's a little dated, but not terribly, so it can stick around. And I did enjoy it.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Science Fair Disaster is an Apple paperback published in 1992, right around my tenth birthday. I have no idea how I missed out on so many of these realistic fiction middle grade paperbacks back then, since pretty much all I read was The Baby-sitters Club, but reading them now still makes me nostalgic, even if the stories are new to me. In this book, written by the late Martyn Godfrey (also author of a book I know I used to see in the library called Mall Rats) is the story of a seventh-grader, Marcie Wilder, and her dad, who is the school principal. Every year, Mr. Wilder has an idea for a project that inevitably devolves into a disaster. This year, he wants the school to host a science fair, and even though Marcie can name many things that could go wrong, her father will have none of it. On top of that, he's also cracking down on Marcie at school and at home, and trying to hide a mysterious drug called REGET whose purpose Marcie can only guess. In addition to troubles with her dad, Marcie must also work through a sticky situation with her possessive best friend Alison, who resents her decision to work with someone else on the science project instead of her.

This book doesn't have the most suitable title, since the science fair doesn't even happen until the last quarter of the book, but the story is decent. Like a lot of Apple paperbacks, it focuses on universal experiences that all kids can understand, even if they haven't experienced them in their own lives. Every kid can imagine the trials associated with having a parent for a principal, and I think many schools do host science fairs. (Mine, incidentally, did not, and for a long time, I thought the entire concept was created by the entertainment industry and/or authors of paperback books!) The author also does a nice job of incorporating different character archetypes that often emerge in middle school, including the boy who has matured from a jerk into a worthy lab partner, and a jerk (aptly named Steve Butz) who has always been awful and shows no sign of changing. Marcie, too, represents a certain type of kid, who is generally well-behaved but has occasional lapses in judgment and outbursts of anger.

The Great Science Fair Disaster only really seems outdated to me when I compare it with the books Apple currently publishes in the Candy Apple and Poison Apple series. The contemporary titles focus on some of the same issues as this older book, but with more emphasis on fashion, dating, and friendship drama. Emotions don't run as high in The Great Science Fair Disaster, and there is a stronger feeling of platonic affection among boys and girls than in the newer books. There was also no texting or email in 1992, so these characters are, by default, less "plugged in" than their 21st century counterparts. There is no reason, though, that a child turning ten in the present couldn't still appreciate and enjoy this book, which is funny, light, and easy to read.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The great Science Fair Disaster is good for middle/highschools to read. It was very interseting beucase one of the major problems were that the volcano that she made for the scince fair was going to expload on all of the other projects in the gym. I relaly liked it beucase it also felt like i was in the story. THis was a realistic fiction novel which means it can happen to my shcool. I learned frm this book is to not lie, when you know its going to end up bad like the expodiong volcano, and to always stick up fro your slef. In this story a girl was scared because i thought she was not going to win beucase everone else's project was better than hers. So you should always bleieve in your guts that at first you feelunsure, go for it and see what happenes thenl OVerall, this is was great story to read.

[Jarret Stoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a good book, but a really easy read. This would be agood book for maybe a fourth grader (age 9-11)