The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare
Shannon Hale
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either
products of the authors’ imaginations or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2018 by Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by LeUyen Pham
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and
recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2018
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2018953805
ISBN 978-0-7636-8827-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-5362-0805-4 (electronic)
The illustrations were done in watercolor and ink.
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
For all the teachers who help kids love science
S. H. and D. H.
To Vivienne, Roen, Sloane, and Hunter,
future scientists of the world
L. P.
Chapter 1
Today was the Interkingdom Science
Fair. Princess Magnolia had never
been part of a science fair before. She
was excited! Also nervous. Feeling
excited and nervous at the same time
made her want to wiggle.
2
She grabbed her science-fair project,
a poster that showed how seeds grow
into plants.
3
She did not grab her monster-
alarm ring. The Goat Avenger was
watching the goat pasture today.
He’d stop any monsters that attacked
while she was gone. She was all set
for a monster-free day!
Princess Magnolia walked to the
train station.
5
The train was crowded.
A man squished her on one side.
A woman squashed her on the
other.
In the middle, Princess Magnolia
held her poster.
She was excited to share it at
the fair. And she was nervous it
wouldn’t be good enough. But first,
she had to keep the poster from
getting squashed. Or squished.
Chapter 2
The Interkingdom Science Fair was
crowded. Princess Magnolia worried
that she wouldn’t fit in. She squeezed
between the tables. She scrunched
between the people.
At last she
found her
friends.
10
“Hello, Princess Honeysuckle!”
said Princess Magnolia. “Your mole
habitat is amazing.”
“Thank you,” said Princess Honey-
suckle. “Moles are my second favorite
animal. After wolves.”
11
“I like unicorns best,” said Princess
Magnolia. “My second favorite used
to be bunnies. But now it’s cats.”
“I like dragons best,” said Princess
Snapdragon. “Also hedgehogs.”
12
Princess Snapdragon was pouring
hot water into a bottle. When she
placed an egg on top of the bottle,
the egg got sucked right in!
13
“That’s amazing, Princess Snap-
dragon!” said Princess Magnolia. “I
don’t know how you got an egg to fit
through the opening of that bottle.”
“I used a trick with air pressure,”
said Princess Snapdragon.
15
“Hello, Princess Sneezewort!” said
Princess Magnolia. “Your blanket
fort is . . . so tall!”
“I used a lot of blankets,” said
Princess Sneezewort. “And twine.”
“I’m amazed it doesn’t tip over.”
“Yes, I worked hard to distribute
the weight evenly.”
“Wow, Princess Orchid,” said
Princess Magnolia. “Your project
looks amazing!”
“It’s a seesaw that can lift buckets,”
said Princess Orchid. “I call it the
Bucket Boosting Teeter-Totter!”
“There are so many good projects,”
said Princess Honeysuckle. “I wonder
who will win first prize.”
19
Princess Magnolia hugged her
poster. It felt small and silly next to
the mole habitat. And the egg in a
bottle. And the blanket fort. And
the bucket lifter.
And Tommy Wigtower’s talking
volcano.
Wait, what?
Chapter 3
Excuse me,” said Princess Magnolia,
“did your volcano just talk?”
“Uh . . . no,” said Tommy Wigtower.
“EAT,” said the volcano.
“I think your volcano just talked,”
said Princess Magnolia.
21
“No, it didn’t,” said Tommy
Wigtower.
“EAAAAT,” said the volcano.
22
“But I’m quite certain —” said
Princess Magnolia.
“It’s not supposed to talk!” said
Tommy. “It’s supposed to erupt! I
should have tried it at home first.”
23
“Did you add baking soda?” asked
Princess Honeysuckle.
“Yes,” said Tommy.
“Did you add vinegar?” asked
Princess Snapdragon.
“YES,” said the volcano.
24
“But it still didn’t erupt!” said
Tommy. “So I added . . . some monster
fur.”
“MMM,” said the volcano.
Or rather, said the goo inside the
volcano.
25
The goo growled. And it grew. It
growled and grew. Now it was taking
up all the space inside the volcano.
27
“Hey, get out of my science
project!” said Tommy.
“NO!” said the goo.
Tommy tried to pull it out. It stuck
like the stickiest gum.
“Oh, dear,” said Princess Magnolia.
“Tommy hasn’t made a talking vol-
cano for his science project. Tommy’s
science project has made a monster.”
Chapter 4
It’s a monster!” somebody screamed.
“I’ll go get help,” said Princess
Magnolia.
She squeezed through the crowd.
She scrunched under a table.
30
When she came out the other side,
she was no longer Princess Magnolia.
She was the Princess in Black!
She made sure her mask was on
tight. After all, no one knew that
prim and perfect Princess Magnolia
was secretly the Princess in Black.
“I’m here to help!” said the Princess
in Black.
“So am I!” said another masked
hero.
The hero jumped free of the blan-
ket fort. She tripped on a blanket. But
she hopped back up again.
32
“Good to see you, Princess in
Blankets,” said the Princess in Black.
“This science fair needs heroes.”
“Yes, I heard a monster took over
Tommy Wigtower’s project,” said
the Princess in Blankets. “And . . .
uh, I happened to be nearby.”
33
“Get out of my volcano!” Tommy
yelled. From a safe spot. Behind a
table.
“NO,” said the goo monster.
It growled. It grew. It growled
and grew.
“The volcano can’t erupt when
you’re in there,” said the Princess
in Black.
“Also, you’re squished,” said
the Princess in Blankets. “Find a
bigger home.”
“NO!” said the goo monster.
36
Just then, the pressure from the
baking soda and vinegar did erupt. It
erupted the monster right out.
Everybody screamed.
“EAT SCIENCE FAIR!” said the
goo monster.
“You may NOT eat the science
fair!” said the Princess in Black.
The goo monster tried anyway.
But it only ate one thing. Princess
Magnolia’s poster.
“That’s it!” said the Princess in Black.
So the goo monster and the
Princess in Black waged battle.
The goo monster did not go
back in the volcano.
Chapter 5
The goo monster poured itself into
Princess Snapdragon’s bottle instead.
“Behave, beast!” said the Princess
in Black. “That is Princess Snap-
dragon’s bottle.”
“HOME NOW,” said the goo
monster.
41
Princess Snapdragon tried to pull
the monster out. But it stuck like the
stickiest glue.
“That’s not your home,” said
Princess Snapdragon. “You don’t fit
in there!”
42
The goo monster had grown so big
that it popped out of the bottle. And
dived into the mole habitat.
“HOME NOW,” said the goo
monster.
“That’s not your home,” said Prin-
cess Honeysuckle. “That’s the moles’
home.”
The moles and the goo monster
couldn’t all fit in there.
The moles felt jammed. The moles
felt crammed. The moles bit the goo
monster. It yelped. It leaped out of
the mole habitat.
44
And dropped into Princess
Orchid’s bucket.
“HOME NOW,” said the goo
monster.
“But I need that bucket for my
project,” said Princess Orchid.
45
“And a bucket isn’t a very good place
to live,” said Princess Snapdragon.
“Besides,” said Princess Honey-
suckle, “you don’t fit.”
“FIT,” said the goo monster. “FIT
IN.”
46
“Fit in? Noseholes and elephants,”
said the Princess in Blankets. “I’ve
got an idea.”
“I know what you’re thinking,”
said the Princess in Black. “Let’s go.”
The Princess in Blankets and the
Princess in Black picked up the bucket.
They ran toward the train station.
47
Three princesses looked at one
another. And then three princesses
followed.
Chapter 6
The train was crowded. Princess
Honeysuckle was squished. Princess
Snapdragon was squashed. Someone
stepped on Princess Orchid’s toes.
“HOME NOW,” said the goo
monster.
50
“Not yet,” said the Princess in Black.
“There’s not enough room here.”
“It’s a monster!” said someone on
the train.
51
The people on one side jammed
together. The people on the other
side crammed together. Suddenly
there was plenty of room for the
girls and the monster.
“HOME NOW?” asked the goo
monster.
53
“No!” said the people on the train.
The goo monster sighed.
At last the train arrived at Princess
Magnolia’s kingdom.
The two heroes balanced the bucket
on their shoulders. They carried the
monster off the train. The people on
the train sighed. Then the train sighed.
It shuddered. And it rolled away.
The goo monster pointed a blobby
hand at Princess Magnolia’s castle.
“HOME?” it said.
“No, not there,” said the Princess
in Black. “Definitely not there.”
54
The goo monster started to climb
out of the bucket.
“Stay!” said the Princess in Blankets.
“We’re almost to your new home.”
“We’d better hurry!” said the
Princess in Black.
But the bucket was heavy. It was
so heavy that the heroes couldn’t
carry it and run.
“I can help,” said Princess Snap-
dragon.
She squished in with the heroes.
But there wasn’t room for three girls
to hold one bucket.
56
“I awish we had Princess Orchid’s
Bucket Boosting Teeter-Totter,” said
Princess Snapdragon.
“Or some way to make carrying
this bucket easier,” said Princess
Orchid.
“If only we could all share the
weight,” said Princess Honeysuckle.
“I have an idea!” said Princess
Orchid. “Princess in Blankets, do
you have extra blankets?”
“Great idea!” said Princess Honey-
suckle. “If we put the blanket under
the bucket —”
57
“And we each hold on to the edge of
the blanket —” said Princess Orchid.
59
“We can distribute the weight
evenly!” said the Princess in Blankets.
Some say that princesses don’t run.
But these five did. They ran very
fast. And carried a monster between
them.
Chapter 7
The goo monster was hungry.
All it had eaten today was one
small science-fair poster.
One small science-fair poster was
not enough food for a growing goo
monster.
61
Every time it tried to eat some-
thing, a princess shouted at it. And
every time it tried to find a home, a
princess shouted at it.
62
Princesses were very confusing.
And shouty.
Now five princesses were giving
it a ride in a buck
et. The goo monster
enjoyed bucket rides. But it was still
hungry.
The goo monster leaned over.
It tried to nibble on some princess
head fur.
“Behave, beast!” said the Princess
in Black.
The goo monster did not know
how to behave. It did know how to
eat fur. So it tried again.
65
“You may not eat my hair,” said
the Princess in Black.
The goo monster sighed. It did
not fit in with volcanoes. It did not
fit in with bottles, moles, or buckets.
It especially did not fit in with
princesses.
Where could a goo monster fit in?
Chapter 8
Back in the goat pasture, a purple
monster had come out of the hole.
The hole that led to Monster Land.
“EAT GOATS,” said the purple
monster.
“Not today!” said the Goat Avenger.
68
The Goat Avenger enjoyed saying
“Not today!”
Also “Not on my watch!”
And “Back, monsters! Back to
your infernal pit!”
Shouting battle cries was the best
69
part of being a monster-battling hero.
Sometimes the battle cries scared the
monsters away. But mostly the mon-
sters just wanted to eat goats.
The Goat Avenger would not let
monsters eat the goats! So the purple
monster and the Goat Avenger pre-
pared to wage battle.
Waging battle was the second-best
