The Runaway Robot

This is THE book...the one that set me on a Year of Nostalgic Re-reads, and the one that prompted a nine-year old boy to declare unequivocally that Lester del Rey was the "best science fiction writer ever!" Okay, so he wasn't...but del Rey was a pretty savvy editor and publisher. I finally got this from openlibrary.org (they had some issues with their waiting list code), and thoroughly enjoyed reading it again after 43 years. Dated, and clearly aimed at a juvenile audience, del Rey snuck in a few elements of wisdom not lost on my young mind.

This is the first science fiction book I owned. My mother reminded me that "the librarian would almost always have you and her son read any of the science fiction books first to make sure they were show more all right." Strangely, despite my pretty good memory, I did not recall that. show less

I was lucky enough to inherit this from a thrift store, but you should be able to find it online at Open Library (www.openlibrary.org). Somewhat dated, but lots of fun, and thought-provoking as well. Though the boy is 16, he's been rather sheltered & isolated, so it's not surprising that he sometimes acts more like 12... and I believe the book would appeal most to youngsters 9-12.

Proper classic SF for kids is too rare. If you don't want fantasy, dystopia, weirdness, or the problematic Heinlein juveniles, you're left with this, [b:The Forgotten Door|409320|The Forgotten Door|Alexander Key|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1429431914s/409320.jpg|2006907], and some of the books by [a:William Sleator|14004|William show more Sleator|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206554364p2/14004.jpg]. Please comment if you know any others. show less

Characters still resonate (yeah, even the robot and science fiction from this time not always character driven). Geared more to younger audience than adults but still a good book.

Loved this robot story when I was a kid. It holds up well even for a modern audience.

Independent reader level: Age 5-8

I remember reading this

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