The kids blast through the Golden Caterpillar Train’s deep tunnels in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! It’s Book One of the Rocket McGee Series; built by Roan Reedling with middle grade readers in mind that kids of any age can enjoy!
Flight from Hong Kong, in Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble! Chad and Amelia make it out of Hong Kong with help from Professor Dennehy, and Daffy, the seaplane, a Grumman G-44 Widgeon.
The very tall building just left of center – tallest of them all, in fact – is Tower Two of the Hong Kong International Finance Center, where much of the action that Chad and Amelia saw in Hong Kong took place. It’s 412 meters tall, at the tip of its top (1,351.7 feet). The International Finance Center is a huge complex that includes Tower Two’s shorter, older sibling tower (Tower One); a giant, multi-story shopping mall; a train station, where you can catch the speedy express shuttle to and from Hong Kong International Airport; and the Four Seasons Hotel, where Chad and Amelia stayed while they were there.
The Maritime Museum is on Pier Eight of the ten central piers on that waterfront just north of 2IFC.
Cold Fusion
Chad said, “I think, if the Americans developed cold fusion tomorrow, the first thing they’d say would be: ‘Wow! How soon can we make this a weapon?’. And then, the second thing they’d say would be: ‘We need to keep the rest of the world from getting this technology. They’d just want to turn it into a weapon!’”
“I don’t… I don’t… think you can jump to that conclusion,” stammered Brain, confused by Chad’s unexpected vehemence.
“That’s my point exactly!”
*Chronicled in Book Two of the Rocket McGee Series for tweens, younger teens, and kids of all ages by Roan Reedling, Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble!
This is the Earth Pledge.
Janina Lamb made this poster of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Earth by Janina Lamb and Joe Jenkins that Amelia Feeney translated into Spanish in Book Two of the Rocket McGee Series, Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble!
Demos lealtad a la tierra y a toda la vida que soporta, un planeta en nuestro cuidado, irreemplazable, con sustento y respeto para todos.
Amelia worked out that translation for mosaic murals that will grace the central atria of the Live and Learn Centers she’s helping build in Central America – the “Centros de Salud y Ciencia”.
Roan Reedling, author of the Rocket McGee Sci-Fi book series for tweens, young teens, and other kids of all ages, is the proud owner of one of these posters from Janina Lamb’s studio. You can find one at the Lamb & Lion Studio.
Amelia did take a little license in her translation… Her translation actually started out like this:
– Copyrighted Material from Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble! –
Dad lealtad a la tierra y a toda la vida que soporta, un planeta en nuestro cuidado, irreemplazable, con sustento y respeto para todos.
“You’re right,” he said, with an admiring smile, “it’s beautiful.”
He caught her, as if with long practice, when she fell against him and he hugged her warmly, resting the bridge of his nose on the side of her head.
“It’s not quite a pledge anymore or it would start with Daré, I guess. But […]
The Rocket McGee kids run for the last Golden Caterpillar Pod in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble!
Avoiding trouble’s one thing they’re not doing very well, though. Trapped in the Golden Caterpillar Train’s gleaming white station, tracking Amelia’s kidnapped dad, the kids scramble for cover – and their lives – rushing for the door to the train’s last pod.
Rocket McGee has a Twitter Page Now! Yes, Rocket McGee has a Twitter Page now too, with quick and easy connections to our other pages and all the folks and orgs we follow. Check it out and follow us, please!
Rocket McGee has a Facebook Fan Page Now!
Rocket McGee has a Facebook Fan Page now too! We’re putting our illustrations of scenes and events from the books up there too. So, check it out, in case it’s more convenient for you to access the illustrations that way! Oh! And LIKE us, please!
Thom O’Ronan, Amelia Feeney, and Chad Saenz buzz the Kangagas LNG Carrier Asian Venture in Harley the aircar, a reproduction Cadillac Cyclone XP 74 in Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble!
The LNG Carrier depicted here is based on a photo image we saw at the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas’s website. They have a lot of interesting information about an energy source and related technologies leading to big changes in our world today. We were especially attracted by the photo of LNG Ship 2 that appears in the slideshow on their main page, because it presents the best aspect for illustrating Harley’s flyover with the kids. You can find it in the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas’ Photo and Video Library too.
The photo of LNG Ship 2 is a lot more detailed and zoomable than the cartoon drawing accompanying this Rocketblog and it could be a great visual aid for following the action described in Chapters 11 through 14 of the book, Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble!
Did you read that thing about J.K. Rowling saying Hermione would have been better off with Harry?
Brain turned from his study of Robbie’s profile.
“Did you read that thing about J.K. Rowling saying Hermione would have been better off with Harry?”
“That was a while back…” answered Amelia, a little snidely.
Chad said, “I think what she said was that the series’ storyline really demanded pairing Hermione Granger with Harry; that she’d originally conceived of pairing Hermione and Ron out of some kind of personal wish-fulfilment thing that had nothing to do with its credibility in the storyline and that, even though she soon recognized it as being nonsensical, she proceeded to doggedly adhere to the original outline. We can all identify with that!” he chuckled.
“So what do you think?” Brain pressed.
“I think it may be true that Hermione would have been better off with Harry – but there’s no way Harry would have been better off without Ginny. I can’t see how anyone could love him more or better than Ginny did. That was an amazing combination of motherly love and… passion? – a double whammy’s-worth of fiercely protective love.
“I must say: Bonnie Wright‘s portrayal of that love? – AMAZING! I mean, I’m sure there was some cleverly insightful coaching from the director, masterful mood-setting by the cinematographer, and crackerjack storybook framing by the editor, but – Bonnie Wright’s portrayal of that love? … … …AMAZING! Sorry, I was trying to find a different word, but… AMAZING!
“And, you know, sorry to say, I have to agree that the storyline sometimes seemed predisposed to a Harry/Hermione hookup. Even destined for one. But other possible hookups were thrown out there too and I distinctly remember thinking, as I read: […]
Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! is the first book in the Rocket McGee Series and introduces four well-schooled and well-traveled but lonely young people about 12 years old who forge a reluctant and rocky alliance in a perilous, high-tech adventure to save one of their parents. Along the way, they discover friendship, a place in the world, and the super-human power to work together. In this world, magic lies in technology and human interaction.
Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! is available at the Amazon Bookstore in Kindle and Paperback formats from Rocketwhoosh!
Roan Reedling wrote Book One of the Rocket McGee Series, Avoiding Trouble! mainly with tweens and younger teens in mind, but it’s a sci-fi adventure that kids of any age can enjoy. You be the judge.
On present-day Earth, or nearly so, the world-views and objectives of secretly advanced technology companies are coming to a head. Envy and avarice rear their fire-snorting snouts. Trouble roils and flares, and four young people are forced to extricate themselves from a gnarly situation not of their making, though they have a knack for getting themselves into trouble too.
It all started mundanely enough. As Amelia darted from the locker rooms after the swim meet, out onto the playing fields of the New World Academy, and rushed to rendezvous with her schoolmate, Diana, in the thicket at the edge of the school grounds, she didn’t imagine for a moment falling down a rabbit hole into a roller-coaster ride for her life and the lives of family and friends, or being there at the birth of Rocket McGee. Who would?
Faraway Island is featured in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! […]
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