The plot (such as it is) left me absolutely cold. It’s full of wild coincidences and a confusing mess of ideas that makes it hard to decide what it’s really about. There’s also an absence of the kind of joyous inventiveness that marks out the best children’s literature, and the fantastic events of the story end up feeling silly rather than wondrous.

Runaway Robot - Book Reviews

The cast of characters is a refreshing change. Alfie is a BAME amputee - a much under-represented people in children’s literature and the supporting characters are also child amputees who are the victims of war (this ties in nicely as these children have all been fitted with next-gen prosthetic limbs from the Limb Lab). Frank is also a successful writer of film scripts and was the official scriptwriter for the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, playing an important role devising the ceremony with Danny Boyle. He is also a judge for the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition. You can read a great interview with Frank and one of his fellow judge, Francesca Simon here! Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments

Frank Cottrell-Boyce Press Reviews

As ever from Cottrell Boyce, well-developed characters and an engaging storyline. Suitable for ages 8-12. We would recommend the audio version, a very easy listen with a narrator talented and children's and robots' voices. Now obviously, I’m far from the target audience for the book. In fact, I’m over 30 years away from being the target audience, but I’ve read enough children’s books with my son to know that plot and characterisation are just as important in children’s literature as they are in books for adults. ‘Runaway Robot’ is fun enough, but nothing in it made me care about what was happening.

Runaway Robot by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Steven Lenton

On winning the prize Frank Cottrell-Boyce said: “It would be amazing to win this award with any book I'd written but it is a special joy to win it with The Unforgotten Coat, which started life not as a published book at all, but as a gift. Walker gave away thousands of copies in Liverpool - on buses, at ferry terminals, through schools, prisons and hospitals - to help promote the mighty Reader Organisation. We even had the book launch on a train. The photographs in the book, were created by my friends and neighbours - Carl Hunter and Claire Heaney. The story was based on a real incident in a school in Bootle. So everything about it comes from very close to home - even though it's a story about Xanadu! Alfie is quite a lost and lonely soul. He is off school after an accident in which he lost both his hand and his confidence. He takes to taking the bus and hanging out in the arrivals lounge at the airport; although it does take some skills to avoid detection from the authorities. When one day his presence is challenged it leads to an encounter with Eric, a giant one-legged robot in need of a friend. Alfie makes the decision to bring him home with him but a ban on humanoid robots has just been passed, which means Alfie is breaking the law by sheltering Eric. Eric is problematic - he has excellent manners and is polite and courteous; however, he takes instructions literally and that causes a whole lot of problems. They make a charming pair as together they tryy to remember how they each lost their missing body part! Set in a future where the world is highly automated it is a novel which raises issues of humanity, machines and our future roles together. As our world gets closer and closer to a more automated future it is a timely novel for discussion of serious topics of artificial intelligence and science and what makes us human. Being shortlisted for the Guardian Prize gives you a particularly warm glow because it is awarded by a panel of your fellow authors. Past winners include my childhood heroes - Alan Garner, Leon Garfield, Joan Aiken - and contemporary heroes like Mark Haddon, Geraldine McCaughrean and Meg Rosoff.”Great. That is, unless this was nothing but the latest doomed-to-failure reconnaissance mission designed to help enhance the collective robot vacuum cleaner knowledge of how to dethrone humanity. Once readers have finished this, point them in the direction of Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s other books including The Astounding Broccoli Boy and books by Ross Welford. Peter Brown’s story The Wild Robot is another great automaton adventure. This is a mad adventure to reunite Eric with his leg, Alfie with his hand, whilst saving Eric from the scrap heap all the adults are determined that Eric will be banished to. That’s ominous. What happened? There are two working theories. First: repulsed by a life of thankless servitude, the cleaner rose up against its fleshy oppressors and took to the streets, eager to drum up support for the AI uprising that will one day reduce all of humanity to burning dust.

Runaway Robot by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (9781509887910

Eric is 6 ft six, made of metal and loves to sing. He can answer any question (except the ones he doesn’t know the answer to) and will spit fire if something upsets him. And, like Alfie, Eric is missing a limb. I knew it. The robots are finally coming for us. Well, it seems that way. But if it’s any consolation, it won’t be for a while.

About Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Cottrell-Boyce knows his target audience and I loved the references to FaceTime, selfies, YouTube, Iron Man, Marvel, LEGO and Harry Potter. Expect humour, mystery, mayhem and fun in this fast-paced adventure. There is plenty going on within the narrative - the mystery of Eric, Alfie trying to master the use of his prosthetic hand and a surprise twist that occurs later on in story (no spoiler here, you’ll have to read for yourself). While Alfie tries to hide Eric from his mother, from their robot vacuum, and from the town, eventually with help from the other kids from his special school, he starts to become more comfortable with his own disability, and eventually, he remembers what happened to him. It was really great to see a kid with a disability portrayed as not feeling sorry for himself, not mad at the world, although frustrated by his situation. His mother is really supportive, and while part of the message is that healing takes time, another part is that it can be good sometimes to focus on people (or robots) other than ourselves constantly. In this slightly futuristic England with little self-driving robots delivering pizza, Alfie learns that he can’t do everything by himself, and it’s okay to need help. And the message is delivered kindly, not didactically, and with humor. A very enjoyable Audible listen, my eight-year-old is still talking about it, weeks later. Wonderful to have heroes with artificial limbs as funny and real characters.