Boot wakes up on a pile of metal and rubbish. He’s confused, missing nearly all of his memory and then scared as the rubbish begins to slide towards a giant crusher. He springs into action and just misses becoming pummeled as he escapes.

With a fond memory of the human (a girl called Beth), he approaches the human in charge of the dump. But this human (a man called Flint) is bitter about all the machines and robots that have taken people’s jobs and he is keen to scrap as many as he can. Boot flees.

This is where Boot’s adventure begins. He feels different about everything around him – which only adds to his confusion. He’s a robot – he shouldn’t feel anything! Driven by the snippets of memory of Beth, he begins his search across the city. Robots are everywhere, doing many things people used to do, but even robots are dispensable after a while, and Boot meets discarded robots and machines that don’t function or look as shiny as they once did.

Together they continue the search for Beth, not knowing that Flint from the scrap yard is after Boot and anyone who gets in his way!

With lots of fun illustrations scattered among Boot’s pages, this was a fun read that makes us look at how we sometimes recklessly discard things for something new. There is also a thought-provoking whisper of story thread about our elderly and how they too can live out their lives, ‘discarded’ in a retirement home.

Boot was lovely and his robot friend characters all fun with their own quirks. The story reminded me a little of Toy Story, but instead of the children growing up, it shows how our society changes, demanding more and more technology. This is the first in this series.

Author – Shane Hegarty

Illustrator – Ben Mantle

Age – 7+

Teacher’s Notes here

See Activities here

Read an Extract here

(Robots, Technology, Friendship, Future, Memory, Connection, Home, Quest, Series)