Fetch Orvis Depicted By Helen Mary Hoover Accessible In Document
first pages hit a few wrong notes but the story soon picked up, It's hard to see how this won so many awards, It's a science fiction tale about a girl named Toby who one day encounters a robot named ORVIS walking himself to the dump.
Toby doesn't fit in to the school, and ORVIS doesn't fit in anywhere, so they both plot to escape to her greatgrandmother's place.
Unfortunately they crash enroute. Can they survive the Empty
The plot is pretty basic, with the whole "survive the Empty" taking up much less space and having much less drama than you'd think.
The same with Toby's rebellion, both really feel softened and inconsequential, Especially considering the nature of what they have to rebel against: the world of Orvis is surprisingly cruel, and you wish for just a little more pushback.
ORVIS himself is the star of the book, a logical robot turned inadvertant protector of two very naive children, wondering about purpose and freedom all the while.
While the book is good SF, it really doesn't feel anything special to deserve all the acclaim, It's just a solid, well written tale with engaging characters but a weak to middling plot, I enjoyed much of this SF tale, despite being well past its target reading age,
There are several touching moments, such as when Orvis kills a bird for the kids to eat, then refuses to ever do it again, upset by destroying the wonder of living flight.
I don't know how to add a cover to an existing edition, but here's an image of the sitelinkPuffin TPB.
I'm not really doing a full review right now I just wanted to check the author's initials before mentioning Orvis in the comments on Todd McAulty's list of sitelinkGreatest SF Robots Tor,, and noticed the cover was lacking on the edition I have.
Good story, nice momentum, fun characters, but too telly overall, imo, . . Not a survival story interesting felt it could have been developed more and made into apage story instead of.
Robot was a great character, Loved that robot ORVIS. He's more human than the humans, Quite a quick read, yet it really made me care about the characters, and their problems, It's scifi, as it's set in the future, but the characters could be kids of today just as easily, except that their main goal is finding a home for a sentient robot.
Good book./stars. Maybe. Science fiction book for children, A robot who is about to be shut down forever meets a young girl, She adopts him, and they have adventures together, In the process, Toby meets her grandmother and her extended family, Toby and her friend Thaddeus learn about themselves and their families, Funny thing was that, back when I got this book during highschool the very reason It caught my attention was the cover art.
It was a different story when I read it though, younger me found it a bit boring or to wordy.
Now, after a decade, decided to reread and finally finish the book, To my surprise, I was kind of enjoying it, Not a groundbreaking children's book but it was actually fun and it had it's moments too, A giod quick read. Overall a very strong read, albeit short, A more conclusive ending would've served the book well, The portrayal of the robot Orvis was sharp and engaging, When Toby stumbles upon Orvis an obsolete robot he is about to shut himself down, . . forever. Toby knows how Orvis feels: no one wants her either, A spacer all her life, her toobusyforToby parents have packed her away to school on Earth, But when her domineering grandmother decides to send her to school on Mars, Toby rebels, With Orvis and her only other friend Thaddeous a lonely castoff too the trio set off in search of sanctuary with her greatgrandmother.
But to get there they will have to cross The Empty,
Also published as "Journey through the Empty", Oh, the nostalgy. : Kids meet robot, with peculiar qualities and adventure begins, One of the best science fiction books for younger readers I've come across, This is a story that mixes elements of a fairy tale with suitably young protagonists, they are twelve and ten, an ancient robot that is gaining human emotions, and an overall plot that seems to be aimed at a young adult audience.
Too often they don't sit well together,
The setting is an Earth that came close to environmental self destruction but, after sending most of its population out to colonise other worlds, it is recovering with the remnant of its people either sheltered inside domed towns or roughing it in the Empty.
Toby and Thaddeus have been sent to attend a prestigious Earth school, Hillandale Academy, where both are very unhappy.
One day, while out walking, they come across Orvis, a strange robot that appears to have a mind of its own and a sense of desertion as strong as that held by the children.
Orvis has had a varied career working on other moons and planets in environments inhospitable to humans and then, after the end of his official duties, he was sold off to a series of owners who allowed him the opportunity of developing his understanding.
Now he has come to the end of his usefulness and has been ordered to retire to a local landfill site and await his eventual demise and erosive oxidisation.
A fair amount of philosophical navelgazing goes on as children and robot come to see what they have in common.
And a little adventure is brought in when the children are hijacked by some of the local yokels of the Empty while on their way to see Toby's greatgrandmother.
Abandoned in the wilderness, they come across a village made up of former space travellers and, of course, they too suffer loneliness and desertion only in their case it has been self imposed.
It all works out well in the end, As with any fairy tale there needs to be a happy ending, If only the child characters had been a little older and a little more proactive, While I am no longer a fan of rebellious teenagers, they have their use in adventure fiction, Toby and Thaddeus wander around waiting to be rescued and are often so sweet they deserved to be hijacked.
A more resilient pair could have brought the story to life without changing the basic plot, Great reading for Battle of the Books contest, I couldn't have loved this book more, Predictable only at the lastpages, but how wonderful thosepages were I had to dry my copy of the book out afterwards, as those pages were tearsoaked.
So many wonderful questions raised about family ties, the power of youthful appearance, environmental responsibility, emotions vs intellect and all done so wrapped in a fantastic story with characters and situations that younger readers can thoroughly enjoy.
sitelink the course of her twenty three year career as a writer, H, M. Hoover won eight awards for her writing, including three Best Book for Young Adult designations from the American Library Association and two Parents Choice Honor Awards.
Another Heaven, Another Earth
received the Ohioana Award in, H. M. Hoover lived in Burke, Virginia, Her last published work was The Whole Truth And Other Myths: Retelling Ancient Tales, in, Hoover changed her pen name to H, M. Hoover before Children came out because there was already a childrens author named Helen Hoover, sitelink the course of her twenty three year career as a writer, H, M. Hoover won eight awards for her writing, including three Best Book for Young Adult designations from the American Library Association and two Parent's Choice Honor Awards.
Another Heaven, Another Earth received the Ohioana Award in, H. M. Hoover lived in Burke, Virginia, Her last published work was The Whole Truth And Other Myths: Retelling Ancient Tales, in, Hoover changed her pen name to H, M. Hoover before Children came out because there was already a children's author named Helen Hoover, sitelink.