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
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.
Monica loves writing after midnight, building cardboard cities and playing Lego with her daughter. She lives in London, UK.
M. M. Vaughan is now easily one of my twins’ and mine must-read authors!
Eric is “the new kid” in-town and wants to remain popular during his middle school years. Danny is “the loner” who everyone says not to be friends with if you want to stay “cool”. This beginning right here, you start immediately feeling for Danny, which makes this a perfect middle-grade book for my twin teen 7th-graders. They empathize and are quick to friend kids like Danny, as Eric does in this story, Friendroid.
Reading further, you follow Danny and Eric as their friendship grows through twists of science fiction come to life; their life specifically. Snippets of Danny’s life start to unfold throughout; really a heartfelt writing honestly.
As you know from reading the synopsis, they also delve to find out about Eric’s life; namely of him being an android which he didn’t even know about. As they are doing so, they find out even more about Eric’s parents, the company that built him, that Eric isn’t even his real name, and more about the company’s vision of the world at large, plus their play in how it is ran.
From a parent perspective I liked the empathetic story of unlikely friendships and from an adult perspective I thought the snippets of wordplay humorous throughout (Jeapardy, Danny Vito, Dr. Kilaman, Joe Schmoe, and more).