Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2016 Max knows better than to try to break any rules, because the vice principal at her school is a computer who tallies all irregularities, missed answers, and rebellious actions. Everyone believes they’re really doing better than the VP says, but no one knows for sure that the system really has gone rogue. Then Fuzzy arrives; Fuzzy is an experimental robot who can learn and grow, reprogramming himself to adjust to new scenarios, and he and Max quickly bond after Max is told to help get Fuzzy through his first few days of middle school. Fuzzy is also the one who finally spots some serious injustices in how the VP is running the school and ignoring directives from the principal. While the book will enjoy instant popularity just because of the author’s renown, it will deserve all of the attention it is sure to get. Angleberger and Dellinger hit the perfect mix of funny and contemplative, speculative and realistic. Kids certain that standardized testing is a crummy way to assess their lives, even without a computer making the score worse, will sympathize with the students. Fuzzy, who is brilliant and clumsily affable all at once, creates a further point of connection for readers who will undoubtedly relate to both his initial feelings of being daunted by middle school and his strong sense of justice. AS - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 08/01/2016 Gr 5–8—Max is looking forward to starting sixth grade because this year her school is launching a new program, Robot Integration, and Max is excited about meeting the first ever robot student. When she meets Fuzzy, Max quickly befriends him and is assigned to show him the ropes. Not everyone at school is excited about the new student. The assistant principal, an AI computer named Barbara, seems determined to get rid of both Fuzzy and Max. When Fuzzy winds up in a showdown with Barbara, somebot's bound to be reprogrammed. In some ways, this is a typical school story—smart kids, clueless adults, overly tough school administrators, and some bad guys (cyberspies) thrown in for good measure. It's also a futuristic sci-fi novel with a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the evils of standardized testing gone awry. VERDICT An absorbing, fast-paced read and an excellent choice for middle schoolers.—Kathy Kirchoefer, Henderson County Public Library, NC - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 07/01/2016 Angleberger teams up with science fiction writer Dellinger to transport readers to the near future, where middle school still stinks (sorry, kids) but at least has robots. Though students at Vanguard One Middle School are used to seeing mechanized custodians and lunch ladies—even their vice principal is a supercomputer—they are abuzz with curiosity over Fuzzy, their first ever robot student. Max can barely contain her excitement when she is chosen to show Fuzzy the ropes. Equipped with humanlike “fuzzy logic,” Fuzzy’s mission is to learn to navigate the most hostile environment Earth has to offer (middle school). Soon, however, a new mission takes precedent: HelpMax. Convinced that Vice Principal Barbara has gone rogue, Max and Fuzzy put a risky plan into action while trying to keep the robot safe from outside threats. Middle-school drama is ratcheted up as school testing and technology are taken to the extreme. The result is a smart, sci-fi page-turner that will grab kids’ imagination and appeal to their conscience and sense of humor. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Angleberger plus robots? If that doesn’t equal a best-seller, we don’t know what does. - Copyright 2016 Booklist.

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