COG

COG
Greg Van Eekhout
HarperCollins, October, 19 196 pages
Grades 3-7
Science Fiction/Adventure

Cog, which is short for "Cognitive Development" is a highly specialized and cutting-edge robot. He looks exactly like a boy and can learn, as well as feel pain and emotions. Cog lives a relatively simple life with scientist Gina, who developed him and makes constant changes to his systems. Gina is training Cog to adjust to the outside world and presents him with different stimuli, such as the grocery store, to help him learn through experience. After Cog explores on his own and gets hit by a truck trying to rescue a Chihuahua, everything changes. After blacking out, Cog wakes up in a strange laboratory, where Gina is nowhere to be seen. Instead a swarmy scientist named Nathan seems to have nefarious intentions and threatens to cut into Cog's brain. Cog manages to escape and takes a robotic dog, who is being abused through testing, a trashbot, who just wants to be fed, and ADA, who appears to be his sister and was also trained by Gina, but has been constructed for evil gains. The crew of new friends hijacks a state-of-the-art driverless smart car and hit the road to search for Gina. On the way they encounter many hazards including giant hotdogs, a flat tire, and arrest. Somehow they locate the secret laboratory where they think Gina resides. The problem is it’s on a private island that's heavily guarded. How will they break in? And how do they find Gina once they get there?

Van Eekhout presents a first person account of the adventures of a robotic boy who is trying to make sense of his world. It is interesting to see the events in the novel interpreted through Cog's eyes and voice and the reader learns what is happening and makes sense of events right along with our new friend. As the novel progresses, Cog discovers a secret power that Gina put into his make-up and Nathan wants to remove, which becomes a real game-changer for the escaping robot team. Cog's sister ADA is a robot designed for war, yet she also discovers things about herself that brings about character growth--robot style. I loved the robotic point of view and Van Eekhout never loses Cog's voice. Cog may be a robot, but readers will sympathize with him and root for the team’s success. The action never stops in this Escape to Witch Mountain-esqu journey to Gina and home. Cog would make a great movie and I would not be surprised if a movie studio picked it up. Both boys and girls will enjoy this action story with heart and it will appeal to reluctant readers. Perfect for those science fiction reports, it will be enjoyed by younger children not ready for heavier tomes and older readers who need something short and fast. Most of all, this book is fun, helps the imagination to soar and never gets boring. Robots are trending and this book will fill the bill for kids looking for more books on this topic.