Project Startup #1 (Eat Bugs, Band 1) - Hardcover

D'Asaro, Laura; Wang, Rose; Alexander, Heather

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593096177 ISBN 13: 9780593096178

Verlag: Penguin Workshop, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

“The perfect book for any young entrepreneur!” —Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor
 
Inspired by the incredible true story of two friends who landed a deal on Shark Tank. Sixth-grade students-turned-entrepreneurs are on a mission to save the world, one bug at a time, in this fun and empowering illustrated novel filled with facts!

Hallie and Jaye are two very different sixth graders who both attend Brookdale Middle School. When they get paired as partners for their business class pitch competition, it's not exactly a perfect match. Jaye doesn't want to be seen with the kid who was called "Bug Girl" after eating a fried cricket during a trip to the zoo! But they're stuck with each other, and together try to come up with creative ways to sell bugs as food. As the competition heats up, can Hallie and Jaye make the judges say "Bug appétit!" or will they only hear crickets?

Based on the true story of a sustainable protein start-up company, this relatable illustrated novel is a heartwarming reimagining for any middle-grade reader interested in STEM, entrepreneurship, or fitting in and finding friends. Bonus material includes a Cricket Cookie Recipe in the back of the book as well as an interview with the creators. Chirps founders Rose Wang and Laura D'Asaro met as freshmen at Harvard University and cooked up the concept of selling chips made with cricket flour to help Americans feel more comfortable eating bugs. Together, Rose and Laura appeared on the TV show Shark Tank to pitch their idea and landed a deal with Mark Cuban. Chirps chips are now sold in stores across the nation.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Heather Alexander (she/her) is the author of numerous books for children, both fiction and nonfiction. Her fiction series include Wallace and Grace Take the Case and The Amazing Stardust Friends, and her nonfiction series include Life of Earth and A Child's Introduction to . . . The former editorial director of Parachute Press, Heather has edited over 100 children's fiction series, including the best-selling Goosebumps. She currently works as a children's book editor and lives in Los Angeles. Learn more about Heather at her website: heatheralexanderbooks.com.

Laura D'Asaro and Rose Wang (she/her) are the co-founders of Chirps, one of the first companies to make food with cricket protein. Both are Shark Tank winners, Forbes 30 under 30 social entrepreneurs, ELLE USA Impact Award winners, Echoing Green fellows, MassChallenge Gold Winners, and Harvard Dean's Design Challenge winners. In addition, Rose is a TEDx speaker, and Laura holds multiple world records, including the record for the world's largest nachos (yes, it was made with cricket chips). They also sit on the board of an education nonprofit, Wema Inc., in Kenya. Laura and Rose were college roommates at Harvard, and now both live in San Francisco, California.

Vanessa Flores (she/her) began drawing at the age of three, inspired by animated movies and books. Summers in Puerto Rico fueled her love for mountains and magic. She loves illustrating humor, magical realism, and representing her Dominican and Puerto Rican culture through the art of storytelling. Vanessa currently lives in Orlando, Florida, where she enjoys trying new food and meditating in botanical gardens. www.vanessafloresart.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

PROLOGUE
 
HALLIE
 
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?
 
A butterfly in Brazil flaps its wings, and that tiny motion creates small changes in the atmosphere. Those changes make other, bigger weather changes and so on until eventually a tornado barrels through some random town far away in Oklahoma. If you live there, your life literally gets turned upside down. And it’s all because a small butterfly flapped its wings thousands of miles away.
 
One seemingly unimportant thing can make big changes.
 
That happened to me the first time I ate a bug. Everything changed. Not just for me—for Jaye, too.
 
Only we didn’t know it then.
 
I’ve eaten a thousand bugs by now. I’ve had them fried and sautéed. I’ve baked them into cookies. I’ve mashed them into guacamole and sprinkled them on yogurt. I’ve had them with hot sauce, with melted cheese, and with chocolate. (When it comes to bugs, dark chocolate beats milk chocolate, in case you’re wondering.)
 
My first bug was just a regular, plain bug. I hadn’t planned to eat it. But sometimes you do a totally unexpected thing, and it sparks ideas and brings people together in wild ways.
 
As I said, total butterfly effect.
 
But with a cricket.
 
 
 
Chapter 1
 
HALLIE
 
“Ewww! That’s the grossest thing ever!”
 
Even though I stood on the far side of the exhibit, it didn’t take any great genius to know who was squealing. The chorus of giggles and gasps gave Erica Sanchez away. Erica is the girl in our grade who kids orbit around like backup singers, providing a soundtrack of constant approval.
 
“That chimp is picking bugs out of the other chimp’s hair and eating them!” cried Erica.
 
All eyes turned to the three chimps sitting on the tree limb. I chewed my lip as I watched them groom one another with their humanlike fingers. Their enclosure at the Brookdale Zoo was supposed to mimic a rain forest. I seriously doubted these chimps thought this was any kind of real rain forest.
 
I’m not sure how I feel about zoos. When I see the animals trapped inside the cages, I get supremely sad. But I do like watching them. Is that bad? I mean, they’re just so amazing. The chimps have the sweetest-looking eyes.
 
The summer I was six, I visited the zoo all the time. Dad’s a photographer, and he was working on a series that showed an animal in the zoo and then the same animal living the free life outdoors. Dad’s photographs make statements. They’re dramatic. Eye-opening. I like that. I’m all for making statements.
 
“Sanchez, don’t move!” Spencer Montan screamed loud enough for the whole sixth grade to hear. He reached his finger into Erica’s long, dark braid.
 
“I’ve got it.” Spencer cupped his hands together. They twitched as if something inside was fighting to get free.
 
“What is it?” Erica’s brown eyes widened with fear. “Was it on me?”
 
Spencer smirked mischievously, keeping his hands shut tight.
 
I edged closer.
 
“Ewww!” Samara Matthews shuddered dramatically.
 
“Gross,” echoed Jaye Wu. She twisted a strand of her long black hair tightly around her finger.
 
Neither of them could’ve possibly seen what he’d captured, but that didn’t matter. Jaye and Samara traveled in Erica’s shadow, oohing and aahing as if on cue. From what I could tell, Jaye always seemed to be a beat behind Samara. Of course, I barely knew them. It was only the end of September, so most of us at Brookdale Middle School hadn’t ventured far from our elementary-school groups.
 
Not that I’ve ever had a group. I’m not a group-friend kind of person.
 
It was always just me and Zara—we liked it like that. But Zara moved to Canada this summer. We tried to convince her parents not to go. We even painted a massive sign on a bedsheet that said “Let Zara Stay!” and hung it in front of their house. It was my idea to make a public statement.
 
It didn’t work.
 
They went anyway and took Zara with them. So it’s just me now.
 
I watched Spencer and Erica out of the corner of my eye. I was curious about what was jumping inside Spencer’s hands.
 
“Do you want to see? One . . . two . . . three!” He raised his hands and opened them wide.
 
I didn’t see anything. I blinked, sure I’d missed it.
 
“There’s nothing there.” Erica wrinkled her snub nose.
 
“Gotcha!” Spencer doubled over with laughter. “You totally fell for it, Sanchez.”
 
“My man!” Raul Cortez slapped Spencer a high five.
 
Erica gave Spencer a playful shove. He grinned stupidly at her.
 
I turned back to the chimps. Spencer was an idiot.
 
“My students, over here.” Mrs. Marcelli clapped her hands several times for attention. “We’re heading to the Reptile Rotunda.”
 
“My classes, follow me.” Mrs. Stein didn’t clap or raise her voice. The sixth-graders who had Mrs. Stein for science already knew not to mess with her. She was always complaining about the amount of material we had to cover. She banned questions that were off topic, because they ate into the time she’d allotted for the lesson.
 
That’s a huge problem for me. I mean, why bother going to school if you can’t ask questions? I could just sit home and read a book. Albert Einstein said it’s important to be “passionately curious,” and I totally agree. Guess who’s my least favorite teacher?
 
Exactly.
 
“Where are we going?” I asked as I followed Mrs. Stein down several zoo pathways.
 
“The Bug House.” Mrs. Stein stopped outside a terra-cotta building with a sign that exclaimed “Abuzz with Wonder!” She held up her hand like a traffic guard. “Wait for the others, Hallie.”
 
I pulled my listbook and my cobalt blue pen from my backpack. School involves massive amounts of waiting and lining up, so I carry my listbook everywhere. It’s a small black notebook with thick, creamy paper. My dad bought an enormous carton of them on sale years ago, and we’ve got dozens still piled in the corner of our dining room. I fill them with lists. Lists let you see everything swirling around in your brain.
 
I flipped back a few pages to the ones I’d made this week:

 
- Mythical Creatures I Most Want to Meet
 
(griffin is #1)
 
- Most Excellent Condiments
 
(sriracha pulls top honors)
 
- Animals I’d Turn Into If I Could Shape-Shift
 
(liger wins, but cheetah is a close second)
 

I started a new list:

Cool Things I Know about Insects
•1. Their bodies have 3 parts: a head,thorax, and abdomen.
•2. They have 6 legs. So spiders (8 legs!)and worms (no legs!) aren’t insects.
•3. They have 2 antennae.
 
“Why’s it called a thorax?” I asked Mrs. Stein.
 
“I bet we can find someone inside who can answer you.” Mrs. Stein pushed open the door.
 
I shut my...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Workshop
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593096177
• ISBN 13: 9780593096178
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Zeichner: Flores Vanessa
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Terminal Video; n.pederzini@terminaldistribuzione.com; ; Via Bruno Buozzi, 24/26,; Granarolo dell'Emilia BO,; Italien