What do a boy named Jeff who hates liverwurst and a modified lavender lab rat have in common? They're both unhappy inhabitants of the old space station.
Jeff has joined his scientist parents on the space station at last, but it's not the experience that he had hoped for. With two parents too busy to do anything with him, meteor showers threatening to puncture the station’s exterior, and the hateful Nanny robot reporting on his every move, Jeff is miserable. It also seems like his friends, who emailed faithfully at first, have forgotten that he exists. His only haven is his small room, where Nanny and the other robots are not allowed to come except under special conditions such as emergencies.
Jeff is sure that he’s the most unhappy individual on the space station, but he’s wrong. Rat, a modified lab rat who accidental stowed away on the same ship that brought Jeff to the space station, has problems of her own. She wants to be free on earth, not stuck in space, where the robots clean up food before she can get any. Her only hope to stave off starvation is to trick Jeff into believing that he has a pen pal from earth. If Jeff explains the wicked food machines to Rat, she is sure she can finally get the food she needs.
Will Jeff’s parents accomplish their mission in time to save the earth? Will Rat be captured and killed by the terrifying ninja robot or it’s piranha-like robotic sniffers, which can zip through the ventilation system in pursuit of their prey? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Michael J. Daley has created an adventurous sci-fi tale for elementary age children, and Space Station Rat (also available as an audio book) is so exciting that it’s hard to put down, even for adults.
Parent alert: In the end, Jeff lies quite a bit, primarily because he doesn’t have a trusting relationship with his parents and is afraid to tell them the truth, especially in light of the continual hostile accusations from the Nanny robot. Jeff is uncomfortable about lying to his parents, and you are left with the understanding that he is planning to tell his Dad the truth at some point in the future.
Space Station Rat and other books by Michael J. Daley are available at the Bartlett, Poplar Creek, Batavia, Gail Borden, and Schaumburg libraries. If you're looking for a great book for a young sci-fi fan in your family, try it out.
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