The battle between boys and bots is on in this funny, fast-paced novel.
Ken is an one of a super-smart group of friends—all nerds—who have been close since kindergarten.
They may be brainiacs, but they’re just like everyone they fight with one another, watch too much TV, eat Chinese food, and hate walking their dogs. Well, maybe not just like everyone because Ken’s best friend Dan has been building robots. He then secretly sent one to each of the EngiNerds, never letting them know he’s the mastermind.
At first Ken is awed and what kid hasn’t dreamed of having a robot all their own? Someone who can be their friend, clean their room, walk the dog, answer homework questions…how amazing is that?
But be careful what you wish Dan’s robot, Greeeg, may look innocent, but his ravenous consumption of food—comestibles—turns him into a butt-blasting bot. And once the other robots ‘come alive’ it’s up to the motley crew of EngiNerds to not only save the day, but save the planet!
I won this book in a giveaway and I am so glad I did. What a wonderful story. Very Nerdy Indeed! It follows a boy named Ken and his friends going on an adventure of their lives. This book features an ingenious story line of robots, lots of snacks, science, explosions and even 90 mph farts. I don't want to say much more as to not spoil it but I must say... there are some that hate baths (water) more than little boys LOL! I would recommend this to everyone. I just loved it and hope there is a second book because I am dying to know who put the pizza in the tree for Kitty LOL!
Such a fun book! After all, what's not to love about farting robots? But beyond that, Jarrett's book has a ton of humor, action, nerdiness and brilliantly written dialogue. With its short, snappy chapters and fast pacing, this would be a terrific choice for reluctant readers -- yet, it's fun and engaging enough that anyone would enjoy this read! So settle down with some yummy com-EST-ib-ulls and dive right in to EngiNerds!
This book is a great one for science and robot-loving techie kids. It’s a fun and entertaining read that will have great appeal with its farting, out-of-control robots that need to be stopped BEFORE they stop the humans chasing them. The reading level makes this book accessible to even reluctant readers, while the story has enough to it to hook a proficient reader as well.
This book was such a treat! Told from the perspective of middle-grader Ken, we learn that the EngiNerds is a group of kids who are super-smart, techy-science kids who’ve known each other since Kindergarten. One day, completely out of the blue, a large box appears at Ken’s house. It’s a ROBOT! And Ken’s robot is hungry. I mean really REALLY hungry!! Outside of eating and farting out giant brown squares, no one is sure of the purpose of Ken’s robot. After a couple days, boxes begin showing up at everyone else’s houses. And before too long, the robot creator must come out of the shadows because things are not going exactly the way he intended. It becomes a race against time for the EngiNerds to solve the issue and save humanity! Oh my, this week I've read some pretty serious, tear-filled books. Therefore, it was great to get to relax and laugh while reading EngiNerds. But this wasn’t just a funny book, there were some seriously interesting concepts to consider (based on the direction our planet is going). With friendship, technology, farts, fast-paced action, and a SAVE THE WORLD adventure, the EngiNerds is not only an engaging read, but will serve as a great discussion starter for cross curricular discussion related to science and technology. And don't forget, book #2 (Revenge of the EngiNerds) is coming in February!! For this and more #kidlit, #mglit, and #yalit book reviews, please visit my blog: The Miller Memo.
I'll admit that Jarrett Lerner had me at "farting robots", but the book definitely delivered beyond that! Funny, fast-paced and entertaining, I devoured EngiNerds! Perfect book for hard-core readers and reluctant ones alike :)
This was on my 5th grader's summer reading list but I decided to read it out loud as a bedtime story to both boys. This was a fun story about a group of self-proclaimed EngiNerd boys and their adventures with some very hungry robots.
This book proves that nerds will inherit the earth -- or at least save the earth from ravenous farting robots! Jarrett Lerner has written a fun and ingenious book that is sure to be a big hit with middle grade readers. His writing pops off the page with clever wordplay and snappy chapters. I had a blast with Ken and his friend and can't wait for the next installment!
Great book for my 4th/5th grade boys! This story of Ken and some of his super intelligent, techno smart friends is fast-paced and jumps right into the good stuff. The very first chapter has Kennedy receiving a mysterious box containing a plethora of metal pieces that seemingly construct themselves into a very capable robot with a voracious appetite for anything edible...except for radishes. Excitement over such a great gift quickly turns into frustration and eventually panic as the robot continues to eat everything in sight and to release digested pellets at a dangerously high rate of speed. Kennedy needs the help of his fellow EngiNerds to diffuse the situation, especially when it turns out that there are 18 of these hungry, mechanical monsters roaming town. In this book, readers get to know four of the brainiacs and each has a distinctive personality that complements the others. There is no wasted time in a single chapter and with this race to the finish, my reluctant readers will likely stick around for the satisfying conclusion. And they will also return for another adventure of the EngiNerds should this book turn into a series. (Review of digital ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline)
Wat zou jij doen als jij een spannend bouwpakket vindt op de stoep? Hem maken natuurlijk, al levert dat je misschien iets op wat je toch niet wilt.
Ik had dit boek al een tijd in de gaten, in het Engels dat wel, maar aangezien ik er maar niet aan toekwam om hem te kopen en de bibliotheek (een van ze) de vertaling had... Dan maar de vertaling! En ik moet zeggen het verhaal liep nog best lekker al ben ik wederom erg teleurgesteld om de namen en dat ik nou niet zie waarom ze zijn vertaald want degenen die we nu hebben zijn ongeveer in hetzelfde veld als de Engelse. We zijn van Ken, Dan, Jerry Lin, John Henry Knox naar Marcus, Kevin, Ricky Tan en Willem Crul. Vooral die laatste twee namen zorgden er voor dat mijn wenkbrauwen omhoogvlogen. En ik vind het ook veel leuker als twee beste vrienden (of in ieder geval goede vrienden) Dan en Ken heten. Dat heeft nog wat. Ook grappig dat we dus van ladybugs (lieveheersbeestjes) naar bijen zijn gegaan. Poekie is eigenlijk Kitty, maar dat kan ik me nog ergens wel voorstellen dat die vertaald is. Verder heb ik eigenlijk niet kunnen kijken hoe de vertaling is, Amazon heeft maar tot hoofdstuk 5. Voor het meest klopt de vertaling wel, en ik vond het ook niet te erg als dingen waren veranderd want de betekenis klopt nog wel. Nog iets wat ik interessant vond is dat in het Nederlands onze nerds Mechanerds zijn, maar de cover gebruikt juist Robonerds. Terwijl in het Engels de nerds Enginerds heten en dat ook de titel is. Ach ja.
Ik vond het ook erg leuk dat in plaats van de originele illustraties/illustrator we in het Nederlands superleuke illustraties krijgen van Kees de Boer. Dit was al een erg grote reden voor mij om toch de Nederlandse versie te proberen. Ik hou van zijn tekeningen (al moet ik wel even zeggen dat als je iets uit een raam gooit en het raam gaat kapot dat het glas voor het grootste deel buiten is, niet binnen).
Het verhaal zelf was superleuk. Onze hoofdpersoon, ik noem hem gewoon Ken, vindt op een dag een grote doos met onderdelen, en zo ontmoet hij Roooob een robot met grote eetlust. In het begin, zoals altijd als iemand een robot vindt, is het natuurlijk helemaal fantastisch om te zien wat deze robot allemaal kan en is alles gewoon super. Maar zoals ook vaak gebeurd... daarna gebeuren er dingen en is het toch minder leuk. Ik vond het erg grappig om te zien hoe Ken van enthousiast naar minder ging en ook hoe hij met de situatie omging (al vroeg ik me wel af wat hij wilde bereiken met ducttape, ik weet dat het spul GEWELDIG is, maar om een robot tegen te houden? Mm....).
Ik vond Marc ook de leukste van de nerds. Al moet ie misschien wel werken aan hoe hij met mensen omgaat. Want hij was best gemeen tegen zijn vrienden. Hij maakte grapjes en opmerkingen over Willem en Kevin en wat zij leuk vonden, en ik vond het toch jammer. Maar verder vond ik hem toch leuk ook omdat hij het normaalste (hij praat tenminste niet constant over of het weer of andere wetenschappelijke dingen) was. Hij was slim, maar ook een gewone jongen.
Ik vond het heerlijk om uit te vinden wie de robot had gestuurd (en ook later de rest van de robots had gestuurd, ja er zijn er meer). Ik had wel een vermoeden wie het was dankzij een grote hint in het begin, maar toch had ik veel plezier om samen met onze hoofdpersoon uit te vinden hoe en wat.
En dan is er het geweldige einde waar onze Mechanerds tegen de robots strijden op een heerlijke en creatieve manier. Ik lag heerlijk dubbel en ik was ook zeker aan het juichen voor onze jongens. Zouden ze de robots kunnen verslaan?
Oh, en ik vond het idee waarom de robots waren gemaakt erg goed. Het is iets wat misschien wel handig kan zijn als dingen echt slecht worden voor de mensen. Al moeten er nog wel wat kleine foutjes/bugs uit worden gehaald, zoals dat de robots niet gek/aggressief worden en misschien ook wat doen aan de kracht van hun poepjes.
Ik had dus veel plezier met dit boek lezen en ik vloog er dan ook doorheen. Voor ik het wist was ik door het boek heen en wilde ik meer. Want het eindigt op een cliffhanger. Ik zou het boek ook zeker aanraden. Het heeft robots, vliegende poepkubussen, humor, nerds, en leuke illustraties.
Ken and his friends have a mutual interest in science and technology, meeting every day over lunch in the science classroom. Some members of the group have been referring to themselves as the EngiNerds, a name you'll never catch Ken using. One day, Ken finds a box on his front porch, inside are a bunch of parts and a list of directions for putting the project together. Ken suspects that his Grandpa K, an engineer who's notorious for giving him gifts to construct left it for him. Unable to move the heavy box on his own, Ken enlists the help of his best friend Dan and during the process of dragging the box inside, Ken's dog escapes. When they return from their dog search they find a robot where all of the loose parts previously were. Since no one else is at home, they have no idea who put the robot together. Is it possible that the robot put itself together? Ken and Dan are surprised when the robot introduces itself as Greeeg and lets them know it wants to be fed "com-Est-ib-ulls," which consists of any kind of food product, packaging and all. Greeeg has a wonderful digestive system that compacts everything away, but his appetite is also insatiable demanding more and more. When Ken runs out of food to feed him, Greeeg leaves Ken's room in the middle of the night on a raid of the pantry, which turns into a huge problem when Greeeg's compaction system makes a huge amount of noise. Ken tries hard to keep his parents from noticing and is relieved when Greeeg offers to "DIS-pose" of the food he's been storing up. Ken didn't know that meant Greeeg would be shooting off a cube size pellet of the digested food at high speed at him. In the meantime, other members of the EngiNerds have been receiving robots and pretty soon the boys have an army of aggressive robots demanding to be fed. When the boys can't seem to meet the robots demands, the robots take off across town searching for more food and won't let any obstacle stand in their way. It's now up to Ken and the EngiNerds to figure out who sent the robots and deactivate them before the entire food stores of the town are consumed.
As the cover illustrates there's plenty of humor in the story, in the dialogue between Ken and Dan and especially with those pellet sized missiles coming out of Greeeg's backside. The chapters are also fairly short and with an emphasis on science and robots, it seems ideal for a reluctant reader who wants to read a few pages at a time. EngiNerds also seems to tie in well with other STEM books designed to highlight innovation, science and engineering and I can really see kids wanting to make some of the same catapult constructions out of rubber bands and chopsticks as Ken and Dan did in the story. There are a few illustrations, but think the story would've really hooked the reader with a few more added in. Overall, an entertaining story of robots gone amok and the friends who creatively fix the problem. I'm delighted to see that there are plans for another book in the series too.
A book where nerds unite and battle it out and attempt to outsmart a team of robots taking over the city, is sure to be entertaining. In his debut novel, Jarrett Lerner hooks readers in the preface. He keeps the chapters short and quick encouraging you to continue reading. It makes it tough to put the book down! The EngiNerds have a challenge on their hands in the way of troublesome robots. The team has to figure out how to outsmart this team of learning robots even if they don't all necessarily like each other. I loved the plot, the flow of the story, the characters (flaws and all) and the potential of more books. I did have one disappointment; there were no female EngiNerds, but the author has promised that book two will introduce some female nerd power and I for one, can't wait for that next book to come out! This is a series of books that those more reluctant readers will fall in love with. My children at home, and at school, loved EngiNerds and it already had a waiting list at the library!
What a fun, smart book! What would you do if a box filled with metal parts mysteriously appeared on your front porch. And those parts made a robot whose sole interest is eating. EVERYTHING. But then it turns out there are more robots and only Ken and his friends The Enginerds can save the day.
This is a delightful book! A great story of friendship, ingenuity, and hysterically funny characters, including the robots! Jarrett Lerner made me laugh out loud!
I adored Ken and his friends and I can’t wait for further adventures!
Hilarious in a way I hadn’t expected. Go with me on this, because it’s going to be an odd comparison, but if you’ve ever seen Shaun of the Dead, this book has that kind of feel about it. A bunch of friends face apocalyptic out of control robots instead of zombies. They’re all smart, and they all annoy each other leading to some hilarious interactions. The dialogue is witty and punchy. And the climax is in a suitably Shaun of the Dead location. I read this over three nights to my 8 year old and she LOVED it.
The adult in me loved this book, and the kid in me, loved it even more. A fast-paced, hilarious read. Every night, I found myself saying, Okay, just one more chapter. Okay, I meant starting from now. No, I really meant now! Ken is an endearing main character, and everyone will love the robot, Greeeg! Because really, who doesn't love farting robots? I highly recommend this book and can't wait for the sequel!
This book has everything kids need and want! Suspense, humor, friendship, action and science-- all packaged in a fast-paced delightful story which you won't be able to put down!
There are mysteries and problems to solve, friendships to negotiate, and a dog named Kitty! Older kids will read on their own and younger kids will want this read to them. Looking forward to more adventures from Ken and his clever and curious friends!
Jarrett Lerner is an incredible wordsmith. Even though this book is written for kids, his descriptions paint a beautiful picture for adults that children will understand as well. Enginerds is extremely imaginative, such a fun take on boys and bots. Great as a read aloud book for any age! Well done!
This book is perfect for kids, but will definitely be enjoyed by all! Very funny and the action keeps the attention of our distracted readers as well. Can't wait for the second one to find out where this adventure goes next!
Action! Science! Friendship! A truly enjoyable book. My third grader couldn't put it down! I had a wonderful time reading it as well. Lerner does an incredible job of writing in an accessible and entertaining fashion that transcends age and is a genuine joy to read.
This is a delightful, engaging, and very smart tale of a group of STEM friends who have to deal with 16 dangerous robots that seem like wonderful inventions at first but, due to the brilliance of their creator, advance almost too quickly. A great book for any kid interested in inventions, and a fun, fast-paced read. Highly recommended.