The Art of Failing Mad Science

Fourteen year old Nona Finbow leads a normal life. It's the rest of the world we aren't familiar with. In this age, new innovations are due entirely to the highly respected Mad Scientists, once feared, now adored. No longer do cars run on fossil fuels, or do planes fly through the sky. Only clean running machines have made it into this fantastic society. Any student discovered to be with any mad science talent is separated from their fellow students and sent off to who knows where to learn how to use it to better the world. Nobody questions where, because nobody with any kind of normal life could ever be a mad scientist. Right?