Hodder ISBN 9781444949360 £6.99
This is a truly delightful and heart-warming story set in a future world where robots are used to fulfil all the work that humans find boring and ordinary. The story starts when this small robot ‘wakes up’ in a scrap yard and cannot remember much of his past; however the word ‘Boot’ is in his memory, so he assumes that this is his name. After escaping from the evil Flint, who wants to crush him, Boot decides to try and find his original owner. He is gradually remembering more things and knows that he was owned by a young girl called Beth and that he sometimes went close to the river so, with the help of some new friends, our hero goes in search of his owner.
I found this a totally enchanting story with a lead character who gains more humanity and feelings as time goes on. Shane Hegarty, who wrote the amazing “Darkmouth” series, has now written a brilliant story for slightly younger readers; it is full of adventure, ideas about a future with robots and what we mean when talking about human feelings, family and friendship. This is a tremendous story for lower KS2, but would be lovely to read to slightly younger children. It is highly recommended.
Margaret Pemberton