Eager

Plot: The main character in this fiction book is a robot named EGR3 otherwise known as Eager. He lives with the Bell family, which consists of Gavin, Fleur, baby Charlotte, Dad, and Mom. His only duties are to take care of the baby, sometimes make meals, and obey everything Grumps says. Grumps is also a robot owned by the Bell's except his internal clock has gone haywire so he doesn't know what time of day it is. Later on, Gavin notices that all robots seem to be acting as if they are being controlled by someone or something, including Grumps and Eager, this leads to lives being lost and memory. Eventually, Eager learned how to deal with real people, talking appliances, and the real world.

Characters: the characters i am choosing to describe are Eager and Grumps.

• Eager- he was brought home in order for him to help Grumps, who was gettign old, but ended up being the new household robot. Eager was the prototype of a new robot that could think for himself and have feelings. Eager was very intelligent because he could catch on to things quickly which the Bell Family liked a lot. I liked Eager because he was supportive of Gavin, Fleur, and Baby Charlotte, plus he always put the family before himself.
• Grumps- he was the Bell's robot since Fleur, the oldest daughter, was a baby. He did all the chores around house, but as time went on he started getting older which caused his internal clock to go off time. Mr. Bell wanted to replace Grumps with a newer model because he was making a lot of mistakes, for example he serves lemon pie for breakfast. They kept Grumps because all of the kids were so attatched to him, they couldn't let go, plus he loved this family.

Your Thoughts: I liked this book because i imagined myself having a robot doing all my chores, serving me breakfast and helping me with my homework. The book was very good in the beginning and middle because it was fun seeing how Eager learned by making little mistakes. Towards the end it got sad and boring because Grumps died, Eager lost all his memory, and I felt the author went off topic near the end of the book. I felt this way about the ending because it went from talking about a peaceful family to a war and tragedy.

Reading Strategy: the reading strategy i used was making connections. The connection i made was with Eager. I felt that both Eager and I are appreciative of what we have, are helpful to others, and we learn quickly. Something we don't have in common is that he is a robot made of metal and rubber and i am a person made of flesh and bones.

Author Information: the author of this book is Helen Fox. This is her first novel, except that now she has published 2 more books, Eager's Nephew and Eager and the Mermaid. She lives in London with her husband, a scientist and their son. I like how she makes it feel like it is really happening.