Tara Binns: Bright Sparks Scientist

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TARA BINNS BRIGHT SPARK SCIENTIST

With scientists going missing and experiments going wrong, can Tara Binns save the science lab with her bright ideas?

Browse the complete Collins catalogue at

www.collins.co.uk ISBN 978-0-00-830659-5

WISE 9 780008 306595 www.collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat

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This book has been endorsed by The WISE Campaign.

An adventure story

Lisa Rajan

Alessia Trunfio 14/02/2019 17:28

Tara Binns

t s S p t a i h t r g k S cien i r B

Written by Lisa Rajan Illustrated by Alessia Trunfio

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Chapter 1 Tara Binns opened the door into the attic at the top of her house. She scrambled up on to the dusty floor and there in front of her was the old costume box. She could hardly wait to open it. It was time for another adventure!

Tara knew what she would find inside the box.

Clothes, shoes, hats – there was an outfit for every job she could think of ‌ and more besides.

The box gave Tara a different outfit every time she opened it, and sent her spinning through time and space to try out an exciting job. Tara loved a challenge and she tried whatever job the box gave her.

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As she lifted the heavy wooden lid, her hand tingled ‌ The tingling went up her arm and all around her. A mist swirled up out of the box, taking her up, up and away!

Suddenly, she felt herself spinning and tumbling through space and time.

Tara squeezed her eyes shut and wondered ...

What will I be today?

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Chapter 2 Moments later, the mist cleared and the spinning stopped.

Tara opened her eyes and looked around the room. It took her a few seconds to work out where she was. There were test tubes, bottles, odd-shaped glass containers ‌ And what was that, bubbling away on the worktop in front of her?

It looked like a science experiment.

She must be in a science lab!

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Tara looked down at herself through the plastic safety glasses perched on her nose. She was wearing a white lab coat and thin rubber gloves. She was a scientist!

She spotted two other scientists by the worktop.

They looked worried, and they were clearly busy.

The boy kept looking at the clock on the wall. Then the girl spotted Tara and waved.

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“Hi, I’m Ayesha,” the girl called to Tara, “and this is Ortez.

We’re research assistants in Dr Lonsdale’s solar energy lab.

But we need help. We’re up against the clock!”

“What are you working on?” asked Tara.

“Solar panels,” replied Ortez. “Do you know what they are?

When the Sun shines on them, the panels take energy from sunlight and turn it into electricity. We’re making solar panels work better to produce more electricity. We’ve been working on them for months.”

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Ortez explained, “Our lab wants to win the GREAT prize – that’s the Global Renewable Energy And Technology prize.

There are loads of other labs in the competition. But we are close to a breakthrough with our new solar panels. We think they’ll make three times as much electricity. And we really need to win. Research costs money and our lab needs the prize money to keep going.”

“Why do you need help?” asked Tara.

“The deadline for the competition is noon today!” said Ayesha. “But we can’t finish our experiments!”

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Chapter 3 “Why can’t you finish your experiments?” puzzled Tara.

Ayesha looked upset.

“Dr Lonsdale has disappeared! And we need her to finish the final experiment. We found a note saying she had gone to ask the GREAT prize judges for more time. Very strange.”

“Why is that strange?” asked Tara.

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