11 Experiments That Failed

"This is a most joyful and clever whimsy, the kind that lightens the heart and puts a shine on the day," raved Kirkus Reviews in a starred review.

Is it possible to eat snowballs doused in ketchup—and nothing else—all winter? Can a washing machine wash dishes? By reading the step-by-step instructions, kids can discover the answers to such all-important questions along with the book's curious narrator. Here are 12 "hypotheses," as well as lists of "what you need," "what to do," and "what happened" that are sure to make young readers laugh out loud as they learn how to conduct science experiments (really!).

Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter—the ingenious pair that brought you 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore—have outdone themselves in this brilliant and outrageously funny book.

JENNY OFFILL is the author of an adult book, Last Things, hailed as "a beautiful debut novel" by Newsweek, and the coeditor (with Elissa Schappell) of The Friend Who Got Away: Twenty Women's True-Life Tales of Friendships That Blew Up, Burned Out or Faded Away. She has also written the picture book 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore. Ms. Offill lives in Brooklyn, New York.

NANCY CARPENTER is the illustrator of 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill, called "picture-perfect" in a starred review by School Libary Journal; Imogene's Last Stand by Candace Fleming; Apples to Oregon, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book, and Fannie in the Kitchen, both by Deborah Hopkinson; Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye, winner of the Jane Addams Picture Book Award; and Masai and I by Virginia Kroll. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.