[Thanks to the author, Jarrett Lerner, who hosted a social media contest in 2017 where I won a copy of EngiNerds.]
Summary
Kennedy and his crew of friends call themselves “The EngiNerds.” There’s roughly a dozen of them, and they hang out in the science lab at lunch. Ken’s best friend is Dan. His nemesis is John Henry Knox, a kid obsessed with weather.
One day Ken comes home from school and finds a huge and heavy box on his porch with his name on it. Dan helps him get it in the house, and they start to put it together. After a brief distraction, they come back and find a fully assembled robot.
Greeeg, the robot, is apparently smart enough to assemble himself. And he’s VERY hungry. Greeeg will eat anything – except radishes – including glass jars and take out containers. At first, Ken thinks Greeeg is another cool present from his grandpa like the wind tunnel or the train set. But Grandpa K. didn’t send Greeeg. And Ken is starting to think that his cool new robot might be a lot more dangerous than he first thought.
Review
This was page after page of fun. The boys are quirky and smart. They bicker and banter, but when push comes to shove, they back each other up. I didn’t even get to know them very well yet in this first book. There’s a lot more to discover about the boys in the next book, I hope.
And the robot adventure is just getting started for Ken and his friends. There are plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions to carry readers further into the series.
If this had come out when I was teaching, I would have needed several copies of this in the library. I know just the kids I would have given this one to. They would have gobbled it up, begging for more.
I highly recommend it for the middle grade readers in your life who enjoy funny, quirky stories and science fiction.