Janet and Isaac Asimov’s Norby and Yobo’s Great Adventure is a daft space romp for 9 year olds about a boy, his mixed-up robot and an admiral with a brand-new camera.<\/p>\n
Jeff Wells is a cadet at the Space Academy, and Norby is his robot. Norby is a small metal barrel with a hat, two-way feet and a very high opinion of himself (he’s also a bit of a genius, so he may have a point).<\/p>\n
Admiral Yobo, the head of Space Command, has a new hobby. Holograms! And he has a plan. He wants Norby to take them back in time to film the actual elephant whose tusk became the Yobo family heirloom.<\/p>\n
Before they get anywhere there’s a disastrous space walk (the admiral ends up floating upside down) and a very awkward tea at the Yobo mansion on Mars. His snooty sister can’t stand robots. Then the prime minister sweeps in, and she’s thrilled to see the admiral. Very thrilled.<\/p>\n
It’s silly in the best way. Norby grumbles, sulks and insists that nothing is ever his fault. He and Jeff chat telepathically behind everybody’s backs, and their private comments are some of the funniest lines in the book.<\/p>\n
There’s proper science-fiction fun too. Hyperdrive ships, a giant dome over Mars, and a visit to the Others, gentle four-armed aliens whose ship’s computer Norby has nicknamed Yib.<\/p>\n
Jeff and Norby have clearly had plenty of adventures before this one, and this book works fine without them. Little footnotes point you to the other books if you’re curious.<\/p>\n
A couple of the jokes feel old-fashioned now. The sister is openly snobbish about other families’ backgrounds (the book laughs at her for it), and the admiral jokes about being too big for a cooking pot. It might be worth a quick chat if your reader notices.<\/p>\n
If they’re hooked on Jeff and Norby, try Norby Down to Earth. Norby wants to research the forgotten genius who built him, and then Jeff gets called home to Earth because his big brother Fargo has had an accident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Janet and Isaac Asimov’s Norby and Yobo’s Great Adventure is a daft space romp for 9 year olds about a boy, his mixed-up robot and an admiral with a brand-new camera. Jeff Wells is a cadet at the Space Academy, and Norby is his robot. Norby is a small metal barrel with a hat, two-way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11955,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8314,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Norby Down to Earth","lr_seo_hook":"A boy and his mixed-up robot go back in time to film an elephant."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[1226,435],"class_list":["post-8313","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-isaac-asimov","book_author-janet-asimov"],"yoast_title":"Norby and Yobo’s Great Adventure by Janet Asimov & Isaac Asimov | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A boy and his mixed-up robot go back in time to film an elephant. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n