Scientists celebrating new book for young readers in Newton Highlands

Two scientists turned educators from Boston are coming to Newton Highlands to celebrate the release of their new book, “The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest,” with a launch party on Aug. 1.

EVENT DETAILS
Aug. 1, 1-3 p.m.
Book launch party for “The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest” featuring authors Peter Wong and Pendred Noyce.
New England Mobile Book Fair, 82 Needham St, Newton Highlands, MA
(617) 527-5817
http://www.nebookfair.com/

Tumblehome Learning is pleased to present Peter Wong’s new science mystery, THE CONTAMINATED CASE OF THE COOKING CONTEST. The ninth book in Tumblehome’s Galactic Academy of Science series, The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest explores food storage and safety in a time traveling detective tale.

Middle school students Mae and Clinton are excited to be aboard a Caribbean cruise that features cooking contests for adults and teens. But when passengers start falling ill, Selectra Volt, their Galactic Academy of Science guide from the future, challenges them to find the cause. Is the outbreak a result of poor food handling, or is someone purposely sabotaging the ship’s food supply?

Mae and Clinton learn about food safety through a series of visits to scientists, doctors, and inventors of the past and present. They visit Nicholas Appert, who invented canning to feed Napoleon’s army; Clarence Birdseye, who learned about freezing fish from the Inuit in the Arctic; John Snow, who discovered the cause of a cholera outbreak in Victorian London; Typhoid Mary, who unknowingly caused illness in seven families she worked for; Ferran Adria, a master of creative cooking; and present-day scientists studying food-borne illness at the CDC in Atlanta and a U.S. Army research facility in Natick, Massachusetts.

Between trips, Mae and Clinton make new friends, compete in the kids’ cooking contest, help out in the ship infirmary, test food samples for bacteria, gather clues, and follow suspicious characters. As the ship sails through the edge of a hurricane and the ship infirmary fills to overflowing, the Clinton and Mae risk their lives getting medical supplies, gather evidence, and sift through a pile of suspects.

Peter Wong is an engineer who loves cooking. He develops middle school curriculum at the Boston Museum of Science and runs an afterschool engineering program for elementary students called K2E. He was recently on the Mechanical Engineering Department faculty at Tufts University, where he taught a course on the engineering of cooking. Whenever he can, he likes to whip up a fancy meal for friends.

Pendred Noyce is a doctor, science education advocate, and children’s book author. She has written or contributed to six books in the Galactic Academy of Science adventure series.