Norby and the Lost Princess

Janet and Isaac Asimov's Norby and the Lost Princess is a zany space adventure for 9 year olds starring a small, barrel-shaped robot who is clever, bossy and quite often wrong.

What happens

Norby has four eyes, a hat that pops up and legs that telescope out when he needs them. He can also zip through hyperspace, which is why the head of Space Command keeps sending him on missions.

This time the Admiral wants him to find a group of humans who were taken from Earth way back in the Ice Age. So Norby, his owner Jeff, Jeff's big brother Fargo, a police lieutenant called Albany and the Admiral himself all squeeze into their little spaceship. Fargo brings his kettledrums. They've got a singing contest to practise for, after all.

The planet they find is Izz. Everyone wears shimmery nightshirts, only royals are allowed loose hair and the palace is covered in real gold. Their princess has gone missing on another planet. And the Queen, who shouts at everyone through golden loudspeakers, wants the visitors to go and fetch her. Right now. Or else!

It's silly in the best way. Norby's kitchen repairs end with a salad fired straight into Jeff's face. The threatened punishment on Izz is being dunked up to your chin in something called plurf. The Queen has decreed that all robots are female (Jeff has to point out that Norby is a he).

The grown-ups bicker constantly about who's in charge, while Jeff quietly worries about everything. He's the sensible one, which somehow makes it even funnier.

It's a mid-series book, so there are a few mentions of earlier missions and a planet of dragons. There's enough explained along the way that your reader won't feel lost.

One thing to flag. The main characters are older than the rest of this shelf. Jeff is fourteen and Fargo is twenty-four, and there's some grown-up flirting (a court scientist keeps trying to put his arm round Albany). It's played for laughs, with an old-fashioned feel, but you may want to know.

If you've got a child who loves robots with big personalities, Norby is a real treat.

What to read next

If they enjoy the gang, Norby and the Invaders starts with Norby singing (badly) at the Admiral's birthday party, just before a strange message starts trying to reach him.