to help you teach today?”
Einstein had been so focused on
FACTS, FACTS, FACTS that he’d
forgotten about Ned’s feelings, just
like he’d forgotten about Marlon’s.
He’d overlooked one essential FACT: It
was important to be a good friend.
Einstein glanced at Ms. Moreno’s
desk. Her speech was getting slower,
her head heavy.
“Are you ready to finally teach the
class?” Marlon asked.
But Einstein had a new and better
idea to put into action.
There are about half a million different
types of flowering plants in the world.
Around 600 species are carnivorous, or
flesh eating. Some plants don’t start off
carnivorous but become that way when
the soil has little to no nutrients. The plants
capture and eat small prey like insects. But
some carnivorous plants
capture and devour
frogs, birds, and
even rodents.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
a
sWiTcHeRoO
“I know we had it all planned,” Einstein
said, “but I’ve changed my mind. I
want YOU to get the class ready for
tomorrow’s audition instead.”
“ME?” Ned exclaimed. “No way!”
“You know the material as well as
I do.”
“But why?” Ned said. “You’ve been
waiting to teach the class your whole
life.”
For the first time
in their friendship,
Einstein lied to Ned.
“I’m still pretty woozy
from Twinkles almost
squeezing me to death.
YOU have to help the
class ace the audition.” He pointed to
Ms. Moreno, now sound asleep at her
desk. “Go!”
Ned hesitated.
“Go!” Marlon added.
Ned shyly approached Bonnie.
“Um,” Ned began softly. “I want to
help us study for KIDS KNOW STUFF.”
Bonnie looked at Ned suspiciously.
“You’re smart, but not THAT smart.”
“Why should we listen to you?”
Tracy added.
“Because we have a real chance at
this,” Ned said.
Ned looked over at Einstein, who
gave him a hamster-size thumbs-up.
You can do this, Einstein thought.
Bonnie had never paid much attention
to Ned before, but he seemed to really
care about the class. And besides, she
hadn’t studied over the weekend and
could use all the help she could get.
She turned to her friends. “What do
we have to lose?”
Einstein shouted from his cage like
a cheerleader.
NED! NED!
NED! NED!
Ned took out his notes and talked
to the class about mosquitoes and
whales and state capitals. He talked
to them about the solar system and
presidents, even throwing in a few
facts about hamsters.
When he looked at his classmates,
Ned was happy to see they were
not only taking notes but smiling.
He mouthed the words THANK YOU
to Einstein.
“But, Einstein,” said a still groggy
Marlon. “No one will ever know about
your game show.”
Einstein watched Ned explaining a
Tasty Tidbit to Ricky. “There’ll be
other times,” Einstein said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Twinkles
hissed from his tank.
Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar
system, so big that all the other planets
could fit inside it. The Great Red Spot on
Jupiter is actually a humongous storm—
more than three times the size of Earth.
Jupiter may be large, but it spins
quickly on its axis. A day on Jupiter isn’t
24 hours like on Earth, but
only about 9 hours
and 55 minutes.
That planet’s
moving fast!
fIeLd
tRiP
As soon as Principal Decker finished
the morning announcements, Ms.
Moreno grabbed her purse. “Is
everyone ready to hit the road?”
The class hadn’t had a field trip in
months, and they were all looking
forward to it.
“Ms. Moreno’s not driving, is she?”
Bonnie asked.
Ricky told her that one of the
regular bus drivers would be taking
them to the studio today. Bonnie
breathed a sigh of relief.
When Ned went to say good-bye to
Einstein, he found him wearing his full
game show getup.
“You know you can’t come, right?”
Ned asked.
“I figured it was worth a try.”
Einstein pulled off his wig. “Will you at
least take pictures of the set?”
“Of course.”
“The stage? The lights? The
buzzers?”
“It’s just an audition,” Ned said.
“Wish us luck.”
“You don’t need luck. You studied.”
But Einstein crossed his fingers
anyway.
Waiting for the class to get back
to school was the worst four hours
of Einstein’s life. He watched TV, did
some research on the class computer,
played Yahtzee with Marlon. (He let
Marlon win.) He went down to the
Science Center to make sure
Twinkles’s tank was secure. Without
Principal Decker parading the python
around, Twinkles seemed much less
menacing—until he saw Einstein
hiding behind the ant farm. Twinkles
shot the hamster a GET OFF MY
TURF look that had Einstein scurrying
through the tunnel system to the
safety of his tank.
When Einstein finally heard the bus
pull into the parking lot, he thought
he might explode with excitement. Did
the class make the cut?
“WELL?”
Ned couldn’t hide the satisfaction
on his face. “We made the finals! Our
class will compete in a new trivia
segment of KIDS KNOW STUFF. And
it’s all because of YOU!”
Einstein thought about his long line
of hamster relatives and how proud
they’d be. There was nothing trivial
about fun facts—any class hamster
could tell you that.
“So many of the questions they
asked were ones you made me study,”
Ned said. “We were totally prepared
and it showed.”
Bonnie approached Ned as he fed
Einstein a celebratory handful of
kibble.
“You knew so many of the
answers,” Bonnie said. “Did you study
with someone this weekend?”
“Me, me, me!” Einstein shouted,
knowing Bonnie couldn’t hear him.
“I just like learning new facts, that’s
all,” Ned told her shyly.
“Well, you’re the rea
son we made
the cut,” Bonnie said. “Nice going.”
“Did you hear that?” Ned asked
when Bonnie left.
“Looks like you found a new study
partner,” Einstein added.
“I’m so proud of you,” Ms. Moreno
told the class. “I really think those
practice drills we did together made
all the difference.”
“You slept through every one!”
Einstein shouted. “Ned did all the
work, not you!” Einstein was on his
way to give Ms. Moreno a piece of
his mind when Marlon held him back.
“Let it go,” Marlon said.
Einstein shook his head sadly. “She
didn’t do a THING.”
“I know,” Marlon said. “I know.”
Einstein looked over at Ned,
surrounded by his new friends.
“Lights! Camera! Action! I can’t wait
to see how the class does on the real
game show,” Ms. Moreno said. “Why, I
bet—”
CLUNK.
Moreno could nap. When Principal
Decker hurried into the room to
congratulate the class, he was
shocked to see Ms. Moreno asleep
at her desk.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS,
MY FRIENDS!
“Is Ms. Moreno okay?” he asked.
“Why is she sleeping?”
Ned explained that Ms. Moreno was
exhausted from working around the
clock to help them pass the audition.
Principal Decker covered Ms. Moreno
with a quilt from the reading loft,
then called in one of the lunch ladies,
who brought in a giant chocolate
cake. (Of course the first piece went
to Twinkles.)
“Last year’s class certainly knew
what they were doing when they
named you Einstein,” Ned said. “You’re
a genius.”
“Right back at you,” Einstein
answered.
Scientists believe that ants first appeared
on Earth about 130 million years ago. The
mass of all the ants on Earth is equal to the
mass of all the humans. There are more than
1.5 million ants on the planet for every
person! Believe it or not, there are over
12,000 different ant species, and they’re
on all the continents except one. (Yes, you
guessed it—Antarctica again.) In the Amazon
rainforest, one acre alone
is home to more than
3.5 million ants.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
nEd’s
sUrPrIsE
Einstein couldn’t believe his good luck.
Not only did his class ace the audition,
but Ned volunteered to take Einstein
home for the weekend again. He
watched TV next to his friend and
even got to know some of Ned’s other
pets. It was especially nice to spend
time with Benjamin the ferret, who
was quite good at impersonations.
(But Einstein did notice a few of his
belongings were missing afterward.)
“You let me lead our class to
victory,” Ned told Einstein. “So now
it’s my turn to do something nice
for you.”
Ned made Einstein
close his eyes as he
carried him into
the kitchen.
When Ned set
Einstein down,
Einstein couldn’t
believe what he saw. The
kitchen table had been converted
into an elaborate game show set,
complete with lights, podiums, and
even a stage.
Einstein pointed to Ned’s action
figures. “Are those CONTESTANTS?”
“Yes,” Ned said. “But I want to play,
too.”
Einstein was in awe of how much
work Ned had put in.
“I have no idea how, but we’re going
to find a way to sneak you into the
REAL studio next month,” Ned
continued. “You deserve to be there
when our class competes for the
grand prize.”
OUR class—it was the nicest thing
Einstein had ever heard. When Ned
hit PLAY on his mom’s laptop, lively
music filled the room. Einstein was
so overwhelmed he could barely talk.
“Is that a THEME SONG?”
Ned grinned. “Are you ready to
finally host your show?”
Einstein took a deep breath and
stepped to the center of the stage.
Ned was the best friend he’d ever
had, and that was one fun fact he
wouldn’t trade for all the others in
the world.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Einstein
said. “Welcome to this special edition
of AnSwEr . . . thAt. . .
QuEStiON!”
This time when Ned hit PLAY, the
kitchen filled with thunderous
applause.
“Is everyone ready for a Lightning
Round?” Einstein continued. “For
those of you new to our show, a
Lightning Round means a contestant
has to answer rapid-fire questions
before his or her time is up. Think
you’re ready?”
“Absolutely!” Ned yelled.
Einstein knew a lot of things, but
what he knew most of all was that
he and Ned would lead their class to
victory next month. He knew they’d
find a way to win the top prize—
together.
“Well, if you’re ready,” Einstein said,
“let the games begin!”
AnSwEr . . .
ThAt...
QuEsTiOn!
LIGHTNING ROUND
1. What United States president was an
ambassador to France and brought back
macaroni from Europe?
2. What is undigested whale vomit used for?
3. Are reptiles cold-blooded or warm-
blooded?
4. What part of the world has the highest
concentration of mosquitoes?
5. How do pythons kill their prey?
6. Why do hamsters grind their teeth?
7. How long ago did the first turtles live?
8. What planet has giant dust devils?
9. Do stalagmites grow up or down in
caves?
10. The Exxon Valdez oil spill, the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the
Challenger space shuttle explosion
were all linked to what?
11. What is the largest planet in the solar
system?
12. Who was the third president of the
United States?
13. What is the capital of Texas?
14. Every continent has turtles and ants
except for one. Name it.
15. What is a carnivorous plant?
16. When you exercise, your body creates
what kind of brain chemicals?
17. Which mosquitoes bite, male or female?
18. How many hours a day do ferrets
sleep?
19. Where is the largest cave system in
the world?
20. Hamsters can carry half their body
weight in their what?
21. What are animals cal
led that are active
in the day?
22. If it’s not recycled, a can clutters up
the planet for how many years?
23. The mass of all the ants on Earth is
equal to the mass of what?
Ned got them all right. See if you did too.
1. THOMAS JEFFERSON
2. MAKING PERFUME
3. COLD-BLOODED
4. THE ARCTIC
5. BY SQUEEZING THEM
6. TO KEEP THEM FROM
GROWING TOO LONG
7. 200 MILLION
YEARS AGO
8. MARS
9. THEY GROW UP FROM
THE GROUND
10. SLEEP DEPRIVATION
11. JUPITER
12. THOMAS JEFFERSON
13. AUSTIN
14. ANTARCTICA
15. ONE THAT IS
FLESH EATING
16. ENDORPHINS
17. FEMALE
18. TWENTY
19. KENTUCKY
20. CHEEK POUCHES
21. DIURNAL
22. 100
23. ALL THE HUMANS
ON EARTH
SpEcIaL
FeAtUrEs
BLOOPERS AND DELETED SCENES
Did you just
poop on me?
You talkin’
to me?
I need more
toasters!
Customer service?
That new shell
you sent makes
me look fat.
FinD OUt MorE
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