The Princess of Neptune - Tapa dura

By the winner of the first Eleanor Cameron/Golden Duck Award

Theora Theremin needs a subject for her science project and at the last minute decides to practice the scientific method to determine whether the storied local lake monster, Big Phil, is real or not. While studying the water's surface in the company of her pesky younger brother, Verb, she finds herself witnessing the emergence, not of a prehistoric creature, but of the submarine of the world-famous scientist Dr. Übermind. It is merely the first of many unusual meetings that ensue, as Theora and Verb find themselves whisked away to Burger Buckeroo, where the manager, a giant cockroach from the moon who's also an aspiring journalist, enlists Theora to enter the Cavalcade of Loveliness, an intergalactic beauty pageant being held on Neptune. When they reach this far planet, things grow ever stranger as Theora is enlisted to hunt down the Beast of the Mall and then to help stop her very own science teacher from his diabolical plan to rule the universe's pop music charts.

The laughs keep coming in this science fiction comedy, which sends up everything from fast food franchises to Jonny Quest.