Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith’s Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab is a mystery for 10 year olds that keeps stopping to show you how to build the gadgets yourself.<\/p>\n
Nick and Tesla are eleven-year-old twins who land at the airport to find nobody waiting. So they take a taxi to Uncle Newt’s house in Half Moon Bay. Their scientist parents have rushed off to Uzbekistan to watch soybeans grow (it’s “a little more complicated than that”, Tesla admits).<\/p>\n
Uncle Newt missed them because he’s glued to his basement floor, mid-test of his spray-on clothes. The welcome cake is made with salt and the hairless cat has licked the N off Nick’s name.<\/p>\n
Then he tells them his lab is their lab and disappears for a VERY long shower. What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n
Quite a lot. The twins build a bottle rocket and it takes off with Tesla’s pendant snagged on the nose cone, the one their parents gave her. It comes down behind the fence of a creepy old mansion, guarded by two huge Rottweilers and a grumpy man on the intercom.<\/p>\n
There’s also a black SUV that followed their taxi from the airport. And Tesla is not giving up on that pendant.<\/p>\n
The real fun is the twins themselves. Tesla is twelve minutes older and charges straight in. Nick is the careful one who wonders whether tilting your head actually helps you hear. They keep a running tally of silly bets (Nick owes his sister fourteen million dollars and counting).<\/p>\n
Underneath the jokes they miss their mum and dad, and the book lets that sit quietly. If you’ve got a reader who’s always taking things apart, they’ll feel right at home in that basement.<\/p>\n
The building instructions are proper ones, with a list of what you need and numbered steps. There’s the rocket made from plastic pipe and a bike pump, and a dog distractor powered by diet cola and mints.<\/p>\n
Worth knowing before you hand it over. Those projects use a drill, a hot glue gun, pipe cement and a rocket under pressure. The book opens with a safety page telling readers to ask an adult first, and several steps call for a grown-up’s help. A child who likes to try things alone might need a quick word. For one who loves tinkering with a grown-up close by, it’s a weekend project waiting to happen!<\/p>\n
This is where Nick and Tesla’s summer at Uncle Newt’s begins. If it goes down well, Nick and Tesla’s Robot Army Rampage brings the twins back to his smoky basement a couple of weeks later, with robots on their minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith’s Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab is a mystery for 10 year olds that keeps stopping to show you how to build the gadgets yourself. Nick and Tesla are eleven-year-old twins who land at the airport to find nobody waiting. So they take a taxi to Uncle Newt’s house in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15121,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8287,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage","lr_seo_hook":"Eleven-year-old twins, a mad scientist uncle and real gadgets to build.","lr_series_id":320,"lr_series_name":"Nick and Tesla","lr_series_position":1,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":"145,1158"},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[29],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[145,1158],"class_list":["post-15122","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-10-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-bob-pflugfelder","book_author-steve-hockensmith"],"yoast_title":"Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Eleven-year-old twins, a mad scientist uncle and real gadgets to build. For ages 10+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n