Judy Sierra

How did this book come about? I decided to write a companion to my 2000 picture book, There's a Zoo in Room 22, which is about classroom pets. I needed to find another popular elementary school tradition, and right away I thought of a science fair. Next, I needed a "what if" that would be funny and exciting. What if a lazy student bought a science project on the Internet? What if that science project turned out to be very dangerous? For the basic plot, I turned, as I often do, to folklore. In this case, I used the international tale type, "The Fat Cat," about a creature that eats many people and animals before it is defeated and deflated. The most difficult part of The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School was writing it in metered, rhymed verse. It took four years and two editors to make it just right. There could not have been a better illustrator for this book than Stephen Gammell. His art is beautiful and funny and frightening, all at the same time.