Wendy Amazing and the Girl's School for Mad Science

Middle Grade Steampunk.
Excerpt from my WIP:

My windows face the southwest, and as the sun sets, I sit in my window seat and read the book assigned for my biology homework: How to Increase Brain Power in Animals. I’ve already done all the experiments in the book.


Along one wall of my room, shelves hold the glass houses where I keep my pets:

(1) a gerbil who performs tricks like somersaults and walking on her hands,

(2) a lizard who writes bad words on the side of his cage if I don’t feed him soon enough, but will give me kisses if I bring him strawberries,

and (3) a rat who has found every conceivable way to escape his cage. He always comes back when his food supply grows low. He likes mushrooms, sautéed in butter and drizzled with Swiss cheese, and he hasn’t learned how to cook for himself yet. I refuse to teach him because then he’ll never come back. And Mom is concerned he’ll burn the house down.