Eager

‘Eager’ is the name that the Bell family give to their latest robot as it seems to sum up his personality – for Eager is a new kind of robot who can learn things and have feelings. Meanwhile the technocrat Morris family, who are rich enough to take holidays in this restricted late 21st-century world, buy their fashionista daughter Marcia a glamorous BDC4 robot who becomes Marcia’s ‘best friend’. But is something sinister going on? With Eager’s help Gavin and Fleur discover the BDC4s are up to no good. This action based first novel has a most engaging character in Eager. His impatience with the slow pace that the Bell family baby, Charlotte, learns raises questions for young readers about human development in a way that is both organic and amusing; Gavin and Eager’s virtual discussions with Socrates on such issues as death, rights and freedom, are also integrated into the story with a light touch. Fox’s characterisation is a little thin but she holds the reader well in this original and well paced story.