Human anatomy is rendered outright hilarious in this smart, rib-tickling tale.
In Kimbril’s middle-grade novel, a disgruntled nanobot eager to leave a human body reluctantly teams up with a red blood cell.
Robot has the artificial intelligence to think and feel for himself. But the tiny, medical-grade nanobot is still at the mercy of 12-year-old Jack, who controls Robot’s hardware via a smartphone app. During his middle school’s STEM Fair, Jack shows off Robot under a microscope lens. After an accident, Robot gains control of his titanium self, only to wind up entering Jack’s body through a cut. He soon bumps into Red, a red blood cell who is one among many others in the blood vessels. Red sports a bubbly personality in glaring contrast to Robot, who’s perpetually disgusted by humans and all the things their bodies do. But Robot needs help—his battery is draining, and he can’t power up unless he finds his way back outside. Robot and Red, and a few others they bump into, embark on a search for viable exits before Robot’s battery hits the dreaded zero. Kimbril deftly blends educational material with good-natured humor. Robot’s endless complaints are consistently amusing, as when he begs, “Someone please delete me!” or calls Jack a “fleshy bag of meat.” Red is an effective, upbeat foil for Robot’s dourness. As the duo comes up with means of escape, readers learn all about the human body; Robot and Red navigate the heart’s atria, dodge frisbee-like platelets, and debate which bodily structure (such as the digestive system) offers the best way out. Robot’s depleting battery isn’t his only problem—he certainly doesn’t want to admit that he’ll miss Red when they say goodbye. Many of the author’s gleefully cartoonish illustrations preface chapters and include such delights as an angry, mohawk-wearing germ and a weird macrophage (they’re described as “freaky tentacled-alien-looking dudes”).
Human anatomy is rendered outright hilarious in this smart, rib-tickling tale.Pub Date: June 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798992301908
Page Count: 231
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean.
A 12-year-old copes with a brain tumor.
Maddie likes potatoes and fake mustaches. Kids at school are nice (except one whom readers will see instantly is a bully); soon they’ll get to perform Shakespeare scenes in a unit they’ve all been looking forward to. But recent dysfunctions in Maddie’s arm and leg mean, stunningly, that she has a brain tumor. She has two surgeries, the first successful, the second taking place after the book’s end, leaving readers hanging. The tumor’s not malignant, but it—or the surgeries—could cause sight loss, personality change, or death. The descriptions of surgery aren’t for the faint of heart. The authors—parents of a real-life Maddie who really had a brain tumor—imbue fictional Maddie’s first-person narration with quirky turns of phrase (“For the love of potatoes!”) and whimsy (she imagines her medical battles as epic fantasy fights and pretends MRI stands for Mustard Rat from Indiana or Mustaches Rock Importantly), but they also portray her as a model sick kid. She’s frightened but never acts out, snaps, or resists. Her most frequent commentary about the tumor, having her skull opened, and the possibility of death is “Boo” or “Super boo.” She even shoulders the bully’s redemption. Maddie and most characters are white; one cringe-inducing hallucinatory surgery dream involves “chanting island natives” and a “witch doctor lady.”
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean. (authors’ note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62972-330-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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