In our house we all love reading. For a few years now we have been reading picture and chapter books from children’s book publisher Maverick Books and have always really enjoyed them. Maverick Books have some really great authors and we always like receiving new books from authors we have enjoyed before. The children (as did I) really enjoyed Agent Starling: Operation Baked Beans, written by Jenny Moore, so we were delighted when we received Audrey Orr and the Robot Rage, also by Jenny Moore, for review.
“Ever wished there was more than one of you to go round? Need to be in two places at once?” Well that is the dilemma faced by Audrey Orr in this fantastic new book.
Audrey’s mum has been entering competitions for over a decade without much luck at winning. When she receives a notification informing her that she has won a family holiday for a luxury cruise to Norway she is over the moon (even if she does confuse it with Sweden). But it soon becomes apparent that there is a problem, it is during half-term!
Audrey’s mum says she will write a letter for Audrey to take into school to explain that it will be used as a educational trip, but the dreaded headmaster Mr Stickler (I love this name) is a stickler for the rules regarding pupil absences and refuses leave for Audrey to go.
Audrey really wants to go and after speaking to Grandad, who has seen an advert in his men’s knitting magazine, they come up with a plan to hire a robot clone of Audrey. This robot will be an exact copy of Audrey who can take her place in school and Mr Stickler will never know.
Whilst it sounds a good plan, robot Audrey soon has other plans and wants family and holiday all for herself.
Jenny Moore’s Audrey Orr and the Robot Rage is a comedy adventure for children aged 7-12 years. It is fast paced, filled with humour, adventure and robots wanting vengeance. It makes a good story but also has an underlying theme of identity, self-esteem, family and will appeal to children affected by Amblyopia (lazy eye).
We really enjoyed it. The characters are funny and really appeal to kids sense of humour:
- Audrey, the eye-patch wearing, comic writing heroine who has a great imagination but suffers from low self-esteem (because of her eye-patch)
- Mrs Orr, Audrey’s competition loving mum
- Mr Orr, Audrey’s dad who is constantly eating and is call Pooh-Pooh by Audrey’s mum, and has a foot fungal infection that he is always taking pictures of for his blog
- Mr Windbags the farting cat
- Grandad who is always knitting oddly shaped items
- Mr Stickler who is a stickler for the rules
- Dr A N Droyde, the robot creating professor
- And of course, the techo-twin Awesome (Awful), the crazy robot clone
At nearly 300 pages, it is a rather long children’s book, but it is split into 26 easy to read chapters with larger text than an adult reading book, so it isn’t as daunting as it first appears.
The characters are strong, and Audrey is a good role model for children reading the book (especially if they are affected by Amblyopia and have a low self-esteem because of it).
It is quite fast paced and has lots of humour, including Norwegian words that children will find hilarious (Fart is Norwegian for speed, Fartsdump is speedbump).
This is very much a book that children will enjoy reading. It has excellent characters, is packed with adventure and humour and will appeal to children on lots of different levels. If you enjoyed Agent Starling, you (and your children) will enjoy this.
Audrey Orr and the Robot Rage is a fun, easy to read story that will capture the imagination. What kid doesn’t like poo, farting, cat sick and robots?
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99 (Paperback)
For more information, visit maverickbooks.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
