Arno and the MiniMachine

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Seven Stories Press
Publication Date
[2019]
Language
English

Description

A prescient and humorous tale of a boy's futuristic life gone haywire with the interruption of ... nature.GO BACK TO YOUR CLASS, says the MiniMachine.The brightly moving thing flutters into Arno's hand. It feels warm. Attached to a foot is a label, reading: BIRD.Two hundred years in the future, Arno's pre-programmed, machine-controlled day takes an unexpected turn when nature intercedes. Arno wakes each morning when his personalized "MiniMachine" tells him it's time. The MiniMachine squawks at him all day: "Eat your Instant Mealtime," "Wait for the school jet," "Go to your electric tuba lesson," "Do not step off the Power Path"..... But Arno's curiosity and a little yellow bird lead Arno off his pre-programmed track. "Go Back to Your Class!" squawks the MiniMachine with increasing alarm. Arno's mischievousness will delight young readers. And Seymour Chwast's illustrations, including his Seuss-like mechanical inventions, are both charmingly old-fashioned and presciently futuristic. A gentle corrective to our infatuation with electronics, Arno and the MiniMachine is a sweet reminder of the joy of nature and following one's own path.

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ISBN
9781609808792

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Author Notes

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Published Reviews

Kirkus Book Review

Two hundred years from now, young Arno gets bossed around by his personal, wearable MiniMachine automaton. Until he doesn't.Everything is regulated in Chwast's futuristic tale. Arno wakes up in his bed in Happy Family Complex Number 88, just one of 5,183 families living in the bubble-domed, fully automated complex. His personal MiniMachine barks commands at him. "Get up." "Put on your tan jumpsuit." (All the boys wear tan jumpsuits; girls wear blue tops and red jumpers.) "Wait for the school jet," which in Chwast's stylized, highly entertaining cartoon artwork looks like a helicopter made out of a shoe boxhokey futurism. At school, the robot teacher takes the racially diverse class (Arno is white) on a field trip to the Zoo Garden, where one display is our current age, when "there were many kinds of animals and trees and flowers all over the world." Arno is smitten by a bird (conveniently labeled) and sneaks it under his cap. Meanwhile, Arno's MiniMachine continue to make demands: "Play baseball with your friends"but Arno remembers the bird, which has hurt its wing, so Arno brings it home and cares for it. Arno ignores his MiniMachine until it blows a fuse and Arno is able to enjoy bird song instead. The social commentary is plain as day; whether kids are able to overlook the Jetsons-style doodads to see it is another matter.A cautionary tale for our automating times. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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