Cleo Porter and the Body Electric

Current readers will immediately draw parallels with the Covid-19 pandemic, but they'll also find a well-constructed and enjoyable adventure. ...A topical read that's worth the attention. 

Burt (Greetings from Witness Protection!) writes a humorous, humanistic sci-fi adventure set in the near future, after the outbreak of a quickly mutating flu pushed citizens into sealed apartments. From her own home, 12-year-old Cleo Porter has, with the assistance of her AI virtual instructor, been training since age six to become a remote drone surgeon like her mother. But when a mysterious package of essential medicine is improbably delivered to her unit, the family's careful plans are thrown into disarray--rather than prepare for a monumental test, Cleo assumes responsibility for getting the medicine to the rightful patient. In her effort to save a life, she escapes not only her unit but an entire massive complex of apartments and encounters ominous drones, rat-infested compost heaps, and the reality that there is much more outside her walls than the threat of disease. Through the eyes of a fierce and compassionate protagonist, Burt mixes snippets of science into the action, adding a layer of nonfiction to this entertaining, speculative look at selflessness and integrity. Ages 8-12. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group. (Oct.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 4-6--Twelve-year-old Cleo lives in an apartment with her brilliant surgeon mother and virtual designer father. Cleo's entire world is the sealed apartment and the online world she visits a few hours a day for school and social gatherings. Her mother performs surgeries daily via drone utilizing the same virtual reality. Cleo's world is turned upside-down when she receives a mysterious package meant for someone else--the system does not allow for mistakes. The package contains very important medicine, without which, the true recipient will die. Despite her looming medical studies test, Cleo dives into the mystery of who the medicine belongs to and how she can get it delivered. Finding nothing online, she decides to do the unthinkable: leave her apartment and deliver the medicine herself. When Cleo is accidentally dumped outside the massive apartment building into the real world, she must use all of her strength to get back into a building designed to keep everyone and everything out, and save someone's life while she's at it. Cleo is exactly the hero today's readers need. She is plucky, tenacious, loyal, and funny. Readers of all backgrounds will relate to the virtual learning and isolation. VERDICT A fun and entertaining adventure, highly recommended for fans of Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember.--Terry Ann Lawler, Burton Barr Lib., Phoenix

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.