Science Fair (novel)

Plot summary

A decade or so before the book's main plot, a Krpshtskani singer named Gmygmy is disgraced by the American Public because his vocals are so off-tune his singing sounds like a dying horse. This enrages the Krpshtskanis, who live in a fictional impoverished country about the size of Luxembourg. Grdankl the Strong, president of Krpshtskan and Gmygmy's father, decides to exact revenge by sending another son, Prmkt, to disrupt the U.S. electric grid. Unfortunately, that is hard considering the fact that Krpshtskan is so poor its airplane motto is "If it is going up it is coming down in a different place." The only computer in Krpshtskan is an outdated Windows that moves at a sluggish rate. So instead he sends Prmkt to infiltrate the U.S. from France. Prmkt eventually devises a plan that requires top-secret military technology. Normally he could not obtain such items because of both Krpshtskan's aforementioned poverty and the fact that only one other person in the country, the tech minister Vrsk, has anywhere close to his IQ level.So instead, he applies for a job as a janitor at Hubble Middle School, a prestigious public school in southern Maryland. A science fair is held each year in Hubble, with a cash prize for the winner, so Prmkt sends notes to the ME (Manor Estates) kids,children of rich government officials saying that for a fee, he will give them blueprints to build technical items. However, the ME kids are unaware of who writes these notes or gives the blueprints. Also, considering the fact that some of them have an IQ that can be compared to that of a horsefly or a zucchini, they go to a certain store in the mall called the Science Nook, where the owner, Neil Sternabite, builds their projects for a fee. These procedures are kept secret, otherwise their projects would be disqualified from the science fair. Many people, teachers and students alike, are suspicious of these things, but due to lack of evidence, and the fact that the ME kid's parents are very powerful and are rich, so the ME kids continue to win year after year. Toby Harbinger, an average, smart kid (as noted when he was put in the Gifted Class) has a problem. His problem is that he sold his dad's autographed Han Solo blaster prop (from his dad's "Lost Ark of Star Wars memorabilia) to a guy named D. Arthur Vaderian who has a partner, Wookie, who wears polarized sunglasses. This collection includes original Storm Trooper uniforms and R2D2 himself. He used the $2,038 to buy a new gaming computer, to replace the old one. "Darth" at first believes that the autograph is fake but when he finds out it is real wants more stuff.... for free. Toby's father defeats Vaderian in a light-saber duel after Toby escapes from jail with Sternabite's iPhone that makes him invisible unless someone is wearing polarized sunglasses. Toby and his two friends Micah and Tamara get sent to jail after Prmkt Blackmails them, as well as two men Grdankl the Strong sent to "help", Vrsk and Drmtsi. They then escape when Toby chews gum to have a severe allergic reaction so the take him to the sick bay where his iPhone is kept. He then locks the nurse, Levine in the sick bay and tells everyone, while he is invisible to evacuate the building, as there is "a poisonous gas that will eat your eyeballs" (a lie). They then escape in a Weinermobile to Hubble where they just in the nick of time stop Prmkt. One of the funniest and most often repeated lines in the book is "Smerk?" This line can be very funny indeed when used in the book.

Sternabite

There are different ways to pronounce his name. Sometimes it is pronounced "Stern-a-bite" (accent on the first syllable) and sometimes it is pronounced "Stern-ab-it-ee" (accent on the second syllable). According to a poll, most people pronounce it according to the former, not knowing that the true pronunciation is the latter. The publishers chose to stay away from this controversy, as evidenced in the book's trailer.

Sternabite is extremely smart.

Foods of Krpshtskan

An important food that Krpshtskanis eat is smerk