Age Range: 8 – 12 years
Grade Level: 3 – 7
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (March 26, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1481490656
ISBN-13: 978-1481490658
Praise for FRIENDROID
“A timely parable for this generation of digital natives.” ―Kirkus
“Vaughan presents another noteworthy sf middle-grade offering peppered with mystery.” ―Booklist
“For middle-grade readers who are ready to fight the power.” ―Publishers Weekly
Stranger Things meets robots in this sweet story about an unlikely friendship between two boys—one human, one android.
Eric Young is an android, but he doesn’t know. He does know that he’s just moved to Ashland, so it’s important to make the right kind of friends—the kind that would be interested in skateboarding and the new Slick sneakers his Uncle Martin sends him.
Danny Lazio doesn’t have any friends, but he doesn’t care. Even if his classmates don’t accept him, he still has Land X, the online role play game that he’s actually really good at. But then Eric takes an interest in Land X, and suddenly Danny thinks he might have found a real friend…if he can figure out the mystery behind Eric’s sudden disappearances and strange lifestyle.
It becomes harder to ignore the weird events that happen only around Eric. But uncovering the secret behind Eric’s identity is an act that might cost them both as powerful forces soon move in around them.
This heartfelt story about friendship and what it means to be human is sure to tug at your soul—or your soul-chip if you’re like Eric.
Friendroid by MM Vaughan tells the story of Danny, an unpopular kid who prefers playing games, and Eric, a kid always up on the trends. Eric earns the nickname Slick for the shoe brand he always wears. At first, Danny doesn’t want to be Eric’s friend. Soon, though, they learn they have a lot in common. Then one day, it’s accidentally revealed that Eric is an android, living hidden among the humans.
This story is told through journal entries. Danny wants people to know his friend’s story, after Eric is ‘killed’. Read, reset. Which technically is the same thing. This is a story about what it is to be human, and what it means to be alive. All I could think of was the Star Trek: Next Gen episode ‘The Measure of a Man’, where a trial is held to determine if the android officer Lt Commander Data is a person or property. Starfleet engineers want to dismantle him, so they can learn how to build more. I have no faith that if they’d been allowed to, and succeeded in making more, that they wouldn’t have also been property. In this case, androids clearly are seen as property, and used for such a trite pathetic reason. Overall, I rather enjoyed this read, but be warned- it’s a sad one.
The daughter of South American parents, Monica Meira Vaughan grew up in Spain before moving to London at the age of five where she learnt English by watching Sesame Street and reading every Roald Dahl book she could get her hands on. On leaving school, and after a brief stint in public relations, Monica decided to train as a primary school teacher. She spent over ten years working in special needs, mostly with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, before becoming a full time writer.
Monica loves writing after midnight, building cardboard cities and playing Lego with her daughter. She lives in London, UK.
GUEST POST: TOP TEN FAVE SCI-FI READS
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
- I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
- The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
