Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win

“Dutton goes behind the scenes with twelve extraordinary kids. We are talking fourteen-year-olds who build nuclear reactors in their basements and train cockroaches to sniff for drugs. Two-year-olds who ask Santa for an extension cord. Their stories converge at the biggest science competition in the world, a sort of American Idol for geeks like me. An inspiring tale, deftly told.”

—Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Packing for Mars

“A genuine delight! It’s exhilarating to see the spirit of history’s great scientists in these students. Judy Dutton’s tale is filled with drama and the adventure of scientific discovery. Glee with test tubes!”

—Henry R. Schlesinger, author of The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution

"Despite the attention placed on athletics, our future will not be made by the boys and girls who play on America's lavish playing fields. Instead, everything we cherish depends on the sturdy young people who compete in the dusty halls of our science fairs. Within the book’s pages are tales of true heroism, that of courageous students who are willing to struggle and persevere and finally succeed."

—Homer Hickam, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller October Sky

"I'm a big fan of international science fairs and have longed for a book that sings their praises. This book delivers in spades. These kids prove that the creativity and drive that make this country great are alive and well. If you're tired of hearing how American kids have fallen behind in terms of science education and otherwise, read this book for a renewed sense of hope."

—Leon Lederman, Nobel Laureate and author of The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What Is the Question?

"We must teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Superbowl that needs to be celebrated but the winner of the science fair."—President Obama, State of the Union Address

This is the engaging true story of kids competing in the high-stakes, high-drama world of international science fairs. Every year the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair brings together 1,500 high schoolers from more than 50 countries to compete for over $4 million dollars in prizes and scholarships. These amazing kids are doing everything from creating bionic prosthetics to conducting groundbreaking stem cell research, from training drug-sniffing cockroaches to building a nuclear reactor. In Science Fair Season, Judy Dutton follows twelve teens looking for science fair greatness and tells the gripping stories of their road to the big competition. Some will win, some will lose, but all of their lives are changed forever.

The Intel International Science & Engineering Fair is the most prominent science fair in the country, and it takes a special blend of drive, heart, and smarts to win there. Dutton goes inside the inner sanctum of science fair competitions and reveals the awe-inspiring projects and the competitors there. Each of the kids—ranging from a young Erin Brokovich who made the FBI watch list for taking on a big corporation, to a quietly driven boy who lives in a run-down trailer on a Navajo reservation, to a wealthy Connecticut girl who dreams of being an actress and finds her calling studying bees, to a troubled teenager in a juvenile detention facility, to the next Bill Gates—take readers on an unforgettable journey.

Along the way, Science Fair Season gives readers a glimpse of America’s brightes