Leon and the Champion Chip by Allen Kurzweil is an awesome book about a kid named Leon who made a spitting image of a bully. A spitting image is a doll look-like that looks like a person that you are trying to control. The spitting image allows you to control the person. Leon enters a chip identifying tournament to get the money for the last part of the spitting image, and that is how he ends up earning the greatest chip award, the champion chip.
Before he earned the potato chip award, Leon spent a whole year learning about potato chips in science class with his science teacher, Mr. Sparks.
The author's intent seems to be that you can find science anywhere, even in potatoes. The reason that I think that this is his intent, is that he said so in an interview with his son on a podcast posted on his website. I also think that because in the book, Leon's science teacher asks the students what their passions are. For every one of the kids' passions, he describes the science in it. Like lever work and center of gravity stuff in a wrestling move. That's basic simple machine stuff.
This is a really crunchy read, that makes you crave potato chips. It has really nice pencil sketched illustrations. This book also describes a whole bunch of science experiments, like the Extermitator, a high-powered blaster gun, and the potato clock. The potato clock uses spit for its power. Did you know that spit conducts energy? That's the kind of useful science knowledge that you'll learn from this book.
If you want to learn more facts about this book, and other fun things about the author, then click on this tasty link to the author's website.
Here is a photo from Allen Kurzweil's website:
Leon and the Champion Chip: Allen Kurzweil, Bret Bertholf: Books
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