The Hopeful Queen of the Clockwork Court [Paperback]

A full-length middle grade novel that teaches real physics inside the story — 294 pages, for readers ages 9–12. Paperback, with black-and-white sketches by the author.

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Elise plans everything. Edmond plans nothing. They have two weeks to save his life.

Elise is the princess of a city that runs on clockwork, and she has never in her life left the castle. She has, however, read every book in it. Twice.

Edmond is a prince from the coast who has been shipwrecked, chased by pirates, had his bootlaces tied to an enormous catfish, and been trapped in underwater caves more times than he can count. He has quest protocols.

When a wizard curses Edmond to sleep one hour longer every night — until every hour is sleep, forever — the two of them set off across the sea inside a giant pelican to find help from the only people who might know how to undo it: two wizards named Archimedes and Bernoulli.

Nothing that follows is anything Elise planned for.

If you already own Fluid Mechanics or the Books 1–4 collection

This book began as Fluid Mechanics: A Fairy Tale and grew into something about five times its length — a new setting, new characters, a great deal more physics, and a different ending. It's a separate book rather than a new edition, so reading both isn't buying the same story twice, though you'll recognize a few of the puzzles. Fluid Mechanics itself is being retired; the original short version still appears as Book 2 in Fairy Tale Physics: Books 1–4.

What's in the book

Twenty-seven chapters of story across 294 pages, with a few black-and-white sketches by the author and fourteen "Notes from the Librarian" set between the chapters. The notes are where the science lives — the librarian who collects these books explains whatever Elise has just run into, in plain language, with pronunciation guides for the names and terms. They're optional by design. Skip every one of them and the story still works.

The physics, in the order the story needs it:

• Timekeeping — water clocks (clepsydras), pendulums, and why a clock's rod changes length with the temperature
• Buoyancy and displacement — why things float, why the water rises when you get into the bath, and Archimedes' Principle
• Pressure — what pressure actually means, why it increases with depth, and Torricelli's law
• Bernoulli's Principle and the Venturi effect — why fast-moving fluid pushes less hard, and what that does inside a narrowing pipe
• Siphons and flow rate
• Archimedes' Screw
• Confirmation bias — a note on why we tend to find the evidence we expect, which is also what the plot is doing at that moment

Archimedes, Galileo and Bernoulli turn up as characters, and their real work is what they're actually doing in the book.

Things to try, and the resource page

Several of the Librarian's notes end with an experiment you can do with what's already in the kitchen — a straw or a length of tube, a glass of water, a container and something that sinks. There's also a free companion page at MathwithSarah.com/elise, linked from inside the book, with animations, videos and extra resources for the trickier ideas.

One thing this book doesn't have: problem sets and answer keys. Newton's Laws and Fluid Mechanics in the Books 1–4 collection end with quantitative practice problems worked all the way through; this one doesn't. The explanations, the pronunciation guides and the experiments are carried inside the Librarian's notes instead, and the math stays optional. It's a novel first.

Digital downloads included with your order

Your purchase also comes with the complete book in two digital formats:

• A PDF of the book — for any device, or for printing
• An EPUB — for Kindle, Apple Books or Kobo

Both are ready the moment you check out — the download buttons are right there on the confirmation page. Your order confirmation email also has a View Order and Downloads button, which takes you back to your order page to download them any time.

Shipping: this is a print-on-demand paperback — please allow 2–3 weeks for printing and delivery. If you need your copy sooner, it's also available on Amazon with faster shipping.

About the author

Sarah Allen tutored math and physics for twenty years before becoming a full-time writer. She has a physics degree from the University of Washington (graduated with college and departmental honors) and a master's in Cognition and Learning from Columbia. Her goal is to write the sort of physics books she would have wanted as a kid.

Ages 9–12 · Middle grade novel · 294 pages · The longest book in the Fairy Tale Physics series