Sunday, May 9, 2010

Celia's Robot Margaret Chang

Celia's Robot by Margaret Chang
10yr old Celia Chow is not very organized. After everything goes completely wrong one school morning, Celia's dad thinks of the perfect birthday gift, a robot. Robot keeps Celia on task. Celia's mom is White and her dad is Chinese. There are moments when Celia wonders what others see when they look at her family. Celia worries her parents fight too much.

I really enjoyed this book. Celia was a very well drawn character. I thought it was pretty cool that her hobby was picking locks. The author does an excellent job with the Chow family relationships.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover, there's a bad guy. Another computer scientist, Mr. Fisher wants to steal Robot. When Robot goes missing Celia is determined to get, her new friend back. There were a few exciting and scary moments when Celia confronts the men who took Robot.

"I reached into Robot's body and picked out the wire connecting the locator to the big battery. Fisher had left all his tools scattered around. It was easy to find the right one to splice the wire again. It was all I could do for Robot. I longed to make it whole, but I knew it was more important to find Dad's laptop. My legs felt weak and trembly, so I steadied myself by holding the edge of the bench.

The swish of an opening door startled me. I spun around to see a tall bony man coming through the door at the back of the lab. His curly blond hair framed a face that looked as if it had been colored with white chalk, and his eyes were as blue and cold as a winter sky. He could have been handsome, but he wasn't. He looked horrible. I started to run but he was too quick."

Read an excerpt. It gives a great feel of Celia's voice and her family.

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