Syretia and the Curiosity Rover

By Ailynn Collins and Paula Zorite

Soon after moving to California, Syretia’s mom enrolls her and her brother, Sean, in a Mars or Bust summer camp. Stung by the recent move—and unimpressed by the camp’s focus on the upcoming landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover—Syretia can’t bring herself to care. Until, that is, she discovers that she has more in common with the Mars rover and its mission than she could ever imagine. Can Curiosity’s landing a world away open Syretia’s heart and mind to her new life here on Earth?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Jan 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663911988

Ailynn Collins

Ailynn Collins learned a lot about writing from her teachers at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. She has always loved reading science fiction stories about other worlds and strange aliens. She enjoys creating new characters and worlds for her stories, as well as envisioning what the future might look like. When not writing, Collins enjoys spending her spare time reading and playing board games with her family. She lives near Seattle, Washington, with her husband and loveable dogs.

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Syretia and the Curiosity Rover by Ailynn Collins, Illustrated by Paula Zorite

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Chapter One: Summer Camp Crash Landing

Chapter Two: A Girl Like Me

Chapter Three: A Lesson in Landings

Chapter Four: Everyone Counts

Chapter Five: Seven Minutes of Suspense

The History Behind the Mars Rovers

Glossary

Activity

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Copyright

Back Cover

Cover

Title Page

Table of Contents

Start of Content

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Chapter One

Summer Camp Crash Landing

Eleven-year-old Syretia Ma watched her mom drive away with the other parents.

This is going to be so great, said her younger brother, Sean.

Looking around, Syretia couldn’t have disagreed more. Her family had just moved to California from Washington state last week. Mom thought going to an overnight summer camp near their new neighborhood would be a great way to make friends. But this camp was about space. While Sean loved everything about rockets and planets, Syretia would’ve preferred a camp about geology and rocks—her favorite subject. Unfortunately, this camp was the only one available.

Even worse, the campsite wasn’t really a campsite at all. It was a large, one-story, reddish-brown building surrounded by sports fields. How disappointing. Syretia was used to summer camps being in forests with log cabins. This one was like being back in school!

A young woman stepped up to greet the campers. She wore a bright-orange T-shirt with the words STEM IS MY SUPERPOWER printed across the front.

What’s STEM? Syretia whispered to Sean.

He rolled his eyes. Science, technology, engineering, and math. Everyone knows that.

Syretia didn’t.

Welcome to camp, everyone, the woman in the orange shirt said cheerfully. "My name is Brenda, and I’m the head counselor. I’m very