The Machine Who Was Also a Boy

by Mike McRae (Author/Illustrator), Tom Dullemond, Jasmine Leong (Editor)

Pandora Robinson was confused. What made a belief true or false? What gave words their meaning? And was a lie still a lie if you truly believed it? Sometimes the world just didn’t make a lot of sense.

Answering questions at school was hard enough, but after meeting a most peculiar mechanical man and his silent young companion, Pandora faces the hardest question ever. Are we the same person today as we were yesterday?

From the lair of the Sphinx to the bowels of The Theseus, clues to the answer abound, but will Pandora be able to put them together in time to save an unlikely friend and still make it to court in time to stop them taking her away from her Dad.

The Machine Who Was Also A Boy is a middle school tale of puzzles, paradoxes and perplexing predicaments.

198 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2013

Reviews

[S.B. Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unless you are a writer I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people think its much easier to write for children. I think it’s just a hard writing for kids as it is for anyone else.

Now add to the challenge of writing, the additional tasks of making the writing educational and inspiring without it being blatantly so - well there’s a whole other level of difficulty.

So then, Mike McRae and Tom Dullemond are to be congratulated because I think they have done a very good job with The Machine Who Was Also a Boy.

Our protagonist Pandora lives with her Dad. Not her biological Dad mind you but the only man she has ever known as a father. Her mother died last year and there’s some tension between Grandma and Dad and whether or not he’s really fit to take care of her. Pandora’s not doing so well at school either. After some stern words from her teacher she participates in the school science fair to show increased commitment to her studies. It’s here that she unmasks the class “con man” Declan, who was using deception and technology to try and win. This brings her to the attention of a Mr Cogito Ergo Sum and begins her very strange adventure full of philosophical conundrums.

Story is foremost in The Machine Who Was Also a Boy, which is why I think it will succeed. There are philosophical conundrums but they are suborned to the narrative rather than being the reason for its existence. So you have drama, adventure, imaginative weirdness that kids love and a little bit of the fundamentals around learning to think for yourself.

Excellent middle grade fiction and not to bad for us older thinkers either.

This book was provided at no cost by the publisher.


This post first appeared on Adventures of a Bookonaut

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this through Goodreads First Reads. A free copy does not guarantee a good review.

I was interested to get this book because I like younger reader books. This was aimed at 8-12 year olds, and I liked that it didn't talk down to the reader. The little girl, Pandora, was not a genius or a complete cutup, and her home situation was definitely not mom/dad/sibling as usual. Her father is not her biological father, which comes up later in the book, and like many families in the current economy, he is having trouble making ends meet. This isn't always apparent, but it sometimes touches her life, but you can tell that Dad is trying to protect her from that stress.

The main part of the book, however are philosophical conundrums. These are hard enough for college students and grownups, but these are presented in a way that makes sense to young kids. These were puzzling and nice to ponder in the way they were presented with the robot boy and the human boy who used to be the same person.

Good little mystery, and good presentation of philosophical concepts for the more engaged reader, for curious little kids who love the fantasy worlds of Harry Potter and Philip Pullman.

(Also, Pandora's Box! Neat ending!!) I'm looking forward to the next of the series.

[Dylan H · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book! It should have been rated best book of the millennium. Can't wait to read the second book! Please hurry I would love to read it!

[Stephanie]

Read for the Aurealis Awards 2013