Brother from a Box
Evan Kuhlman
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1442426594
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
One new brother—assembly required. A “page-turner filled with fun, intrigue, and suspense” (Kirkus Reviews) from the author of The Last Invisible Boy.
Matt Rambeau is officially a big brother—to a robot! Matt’s super-computer-genius dad is always getting cool tech stuff in the mail, but the latest box Matt opens contains the most impressive thing he’s ever seen: a bionically modified lifeform that looks human and calls Matt “brother” (in French)!
Norman turns out to be a bit of an attention hog and a showoff, but Matt’s still psyched to have a robotic sibling—even if he flirts with (ugh) girls. Then strange things start to happen. First a computer worm causes Norman to go berserk, and then odd men start showing up in unusual places. Matt soon realizes that someone is trying to steal the robot—correction—his brother!
In this zany, action-packed story with spies, skateboards, and plenty of artificial intelligence, acclaimed author Evan Kuhlman gets to the heart (and motherboard) of one of the most special relationships known to man (or machine): brotherhood.
started doing backflips and front-flips and side-flips and flying barrel rolls, through the dining room and living room. It was impressive, but he was going way too fast, like a movie run at double speed. No real kid could move like that. I thought for sure Norman had just blown the “Is he human or is he a robot?” test, but all Annie did was clap and say, “Wow! You’re really good!” She turned toward me. “Norman is so cool!” I gazed at Dad, who looked baffled, like he didn’t know that Norman
That made one of us! Next we hit the Central Park Zoo. My favorite part was the polar bears, even though they were actually yellow instead of white, like they needed a good bath. Norman’s favorite part seemed to be the penguin house, though at one point he looked puzzled. “These birds are exquisite,” he said. “But having wings yet being unable to fly is just—” “Illogical?” I asked. “Correct,” Norman said, still looking perplexed. Hey, I’ve also wondered about the flightless bird thing. It
busted into the gym. Someone must have told them that Robin was talking to Norman. At first Mom looked upset, like she was ready to save Robin from Norman, maybe toss the robot into the broom closet where he couldn’t do any harm. But then, as Norman and Robin’s quiet singing continued, something changed on Mom’s face. She stared and stared, and then she swallowed hard. “Would you look at that!” she said to Judy. “I’ve been hoping to see something like this for the longest time.” “Never stop
is totally nuts. Just twenty minutes earlier I was a normal kid living a pretty normal life, even if I did have a robotic brother. And I never once thought of myself as a run-for-his-life-with-his-family kind of kid. But there I was, running for my life with my family. “Where should we go?” Mom asked, checking the mirrors. So often I worried that she’d forget to look straight ahead. “I’m not sure yet,” Dad said. “Just keep driving. We’ll figure it out as we go.” He started filling Mom in on
on his lap like he was wondering how he could ditch him. Meanwhile, the guy with the headset waved frantically at Kent, then dragged a finger across his throat. Kent exhaled and peered into a camera. “Robotic boy or robotic bust?” he said in his smooth show-host voice. “We’ll continue to keep a close eye on this story.” When the headset guy gave the all-clear signal, Kent peeled off Norman, stood, and handed the robot to me. “If you ever get this thing working right, give us a call.” He turned