Caldecott medalist Gammell (Song and Dance Man) provides a humorous and hyperbolic visual interpretation of Sierra's (Wild About Books) silly, spirited story. The bespectacled, wild-haired young narrator is grouchy because she has yet to find a third-grade science fair project, while her classmates are sitting pretty: "The ants on Mary's ant farm were growing corn and peas,/ And Kevin Fink was on the brink of curing a disease." But eureka! Over the Internet, she purchases a project "guaranteed to win first prize," Professor Swami's Super Slime, billed as "a mutant yeast with just a piece of dragon DNA." When the package arrives, she disregards its warning to keep the slime inside the box until the fair. After she opens the lid and gives the slime "a teeny-tiny poke" (like the star of Plantzilla), the goo begins to grow (and growl and emit smoke). Gammell's signature spattery artwork is ideally suited to chronicle the slime's expanding girth as it devours the girl's cat, sister, father, teacher and classmates. Finally, she remembers the rest of the instructions: feed the slime sugar "till it swells 1,000 times in mass./ Stand back as it erupts/ Into a harmless cloud of gas." The resulting explosion catapults the slime's ingested victims to tree branches and rooftops. Gammell's illustrations amplify the energy and fun of Sierra's bouncy verse. Ages 6-9. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Sierra spins an impeccably rhymed yarn about a last minute science-fair experiment gone fabulously amok. As a bespectacled girl narrates, her classmates' projects go swimmingly while she's blocked: "The ants on Mary's ant farm were growing corn and peas, / And Kevin Fink was on the brink of curing a disease." Surfing the Internet, she sends for "Professor Swami's Super Slime," ("A mutant yeast with just a piece of dragon DNA,") that arrives in an oozing carton plastered with warnings. Naturally, the stuff morphs. Sensitized to the slightest rebuff, it swallows the hissing Sir Scratchalot, kid sister Kate and Dad before chasing the narrator to school. It ingests Miss Fidget and several third-graders before the budding scientist remembers a crucial detail: fed sugar, the slime will swell amazingly, then erupt into a harmless gas. The kids lob a barrage of treats into the gaping maw, with--apparently--the guaranteed results. Gammell's pictures perfectly capture the antics, exploiting runny watercolor and highly rendered colored pencil to depict the outrageous mutations. Explosively funny. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 1-3-A nameless girl needs an idea for her science project. Her solution is to go on the Internet, where she comes across "Professor Swami's Super Slime"-a "mutant yeast with just a piece of dragon DNA." Of course, she orders it and doesn't follow the directions on the box: do not open until the science fair, then feed the slime sugar until it expands to 1000 times its size and watch it explode into a "harmless cloud of gas." The child finds herself with a large, green, slimy glob that begins to grow and swallow those who are rude to it: her cat, which hisses; her dad, who complains of a smell; her third-grade teacher-"Eeew! What is that big, digusting creature?"-and so on. Finally the child remembers the sugar and, once kids have pelted the goo with sweets and sprayed it with soda, it explodes. "My project didn't win first prize, and that was fair...I guess..../Miss Fidget kept me after school to clean up all the mess." The watercolor, colored pencil, and pastel illustrations are typical Gammell-the girl bears a striking resemblance to the boy in Liz Rosenberg's Monster Mama (Philomel, 1993; o.p.), round glasses and all; she's just perfect for this slightly wild story. This book could be used as a jumping-off point for science projects-a little levity always helps during the science-experiment season.-Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

K-Gr. 3. The title and the cover, showing a blackboard coated in drippy, Technicolor goo, give away the ending of this boisterous story, but that won't deter kids from reveling in the silly, gory details, which begin when a third-grader can't think of a science-fair project. While her classmates put the finishing touches on wildly ambitious experiments (a moonworthy rocket ship, a cure for a disease), the girl frets. Finally she comes across an Internet solution: "Professor Swami's Super Slime." She places her order, but when the stuff arrives, she accidentally releases it. Taking on a menacing life of its own, it devours everything in its path. Sierra's rhyming couplets create humor from the horror, spurring on the slapstick with references to "moldy underwear" and other dependable crowd-pleasers. The laughs and suspense are wonderfully magnified by Gammell's skew-angled, paint-splotched illustrations, which explode with fantasy and the familiar, messy details of a child's world. An energetic, darkly comic spin on the common story of a science project gone wrong. Pair this with Michelle Knudsen's A Moldy Mystery 0 (2006). --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist