Janet and Isaac Asimov’s Norby Down to Earth is a sci-fi mystery for 9 year olds starring a space cadet and his very chatty, mixed-up robot.<\/p>\n
Jeff Wells is fifteen and a cadet at the Space Academy, in orbit around Mars. His robot, Norby, is a little metal barrel with a domed hat and a great many opinions. He can fly, zip through hyperspace and talk to Jeff inside his head. He’s also writing a biography of the man who built him (it’s mostly about Norby).<\/p>\n
Then a message comes that Jeff’s older brother Fargo has had an accident. Norby whisks Jeff home to Manhattan at once, landing on Venus first by mistake.<\/p>\n
Fargo, it turns out, has sprained both ankles tripping over a pigeon. But something odd is going on in the city. Someone in a rickety old air taxi is zapping little robots with a strange gun, and there’s a burglar stealing computer parts.<\/p>\n
Norby’s research leads them to Higgins House, a gloomy old mansion with a gargoyle that spits at visitors. Inside lives the family of the man who made Norby. And his daughter is not at all pleased to see a robot.<\/p>\n
It’s great fun, full of banter and odd characters. There’s a talking taxi called Lizzie with beautiful manners, and a mayor who falls for his old school sweetheart over lunch. Norby is a joy (he’s quite sure he’s a genius, which he sort of is).<\/p>\n
The future Manhattan is lovely too. Deep snow, no cars in the streets, just sleighs and horse-drawn carriages. Some of the vocabulary is quite grown-up, so it suits a confident reader.<\/p>\n
There’s a sad stretch where Jeff has to face the idea of losing his best friend. A child who gets very attached to characters might need a cuddle at that point. At heart it’s a story about loyalty.<\/p>\n
Norby and Jeff have been on plenty of adventures before this one, and they mention them along the way. For another trip with the same pair, try Norby and the Lost Princess, where Admiral Yobo sends Jeff, Fargo and Norby off to search for a group of humans taken from Earth in the Ice Age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Janet and Isaac Asimov’s Norby Down to Earth is a sci-fi mystery for 9 year olds starring a space cadet and his very chatty, mixed-up robot. Jeff Wells is fifteen and a cadet at the Space Academy, in orbit around Mars. His robot, Norby, is a little metal barrel with a domed hat and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11956,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8309,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Norby and the Lost Princess","lr_seo_hook":"Jeff and his mixed-up robot come home to snowy Manhattan and a robot-zapper."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[1226,435],"class_list":["post-8314","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 Down to Earth by Janet Asimov & Isaac Asimov | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Jeff and his mixed-up robot come home to snowy Manhattan and a robot-zapper. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n