Virtually Perfect [Paperback]

Dan Gutman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Yip Turner spends more time playing computer games than with other kids. For him, virtual reality usually beats reality! So when his dad, a movie special-effects designer, brings home new software for creating virtual actors, Yip is psyched. He and his sister create "Victor," a boy who is smart, handsome, and charming-perfect in everyway. But when Victor leaves cyberspace and invades their world, Yip realizes that there are bugs in the virtual-actor software. Now his family-and possibly the whole country!-may be in danger….

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gutman (The Kid Who Ran for President) taps out a smoothly diverting "What if?" tale centered on a seventh-grader who is new to town and feeling friendless. After Yip's father, a special-effects expert in the movie business, comes home with new computer software that can create a "virtual actor" (aka "vactor"), Yip decides to experiment. But the virtual pal he devises, Victor, insists on stepping out of the computer screen and into the real world. The next day, that "bunch of electrons" shows up at Yip's school and makes friends fast, thanks to his carefully calculated good looks (Yip's boy-smitten older sister had a hand in composing his physical features), his rapid-fire repertoire of one-liners (The Best of Henny Youngman is one of the books Yip has downloaded into his vactor's database) and his superhuman athletic prowess. But Yip's growing jealousy of Victor and Yip's failure to program in a conscience virtually guarantee big trouble. Gutman builds the funniest moments around Yip's likable grandfather, a retired special-effects man, who finally pulls the plug on Victor. Its breezy dialogue and quick pace give this caper the scent of a smartly written sitcom; readers will supply the laugh track. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8-A cyberfantasy set in California's Silicon Valley. Yip is the computer-savvy 12-year-old son of a second-generation, movie-industry special-effects man. He downloads the software being tested by his father's company, Digital Dreammaker, and simulates a "virtual actor." With help from his teenage sister Paige, Yip creates Victor, a perfect kid with great looks, super intelligence, and a sense of humor. Anxious to explore Yip's world, the "vactor" breaks out of cyberspace and reveals a serious flaw?no conscience. A shortage of memory, and Paige's desire to improve Victor's appearance, caused the omission of philosophy from his database. When Victor shows criminal tendencies, Yip is faced with a moral dilemma: Is it okay to destroy a dangerous computer file that looks, sounds, and acts like a human? Gutman has created an amusing and thoughtful novel. Unfortunately, Paige is portrayed as a boy-crazy airhead.
Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; Revised edition (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786817453
• ISBN-13: 978-0786817450
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #672,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( G ) > Gutman, Dan

More About the Author

This is hard. I'm a pretty regular Jersey guy who spent fifteen years trying to write newspaper articles, magazine articles, screenplays, books for adults, and just about everything else before I discovered the one thing I'm good at--writing fiction for kids. I aim for kids who DON'T like to read, and hopefully the kids who DO like to read will enjoy my stuff too. For all the gory details about me, check out my web site.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Neat Book (Virtually Perfect), May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtually Perfect (Paperback)

This book is about kid nicknamed Yip who creates a character on his computer. This isn't any old character-this one is almost human. The trouble begins when Yip pulls Victor (the character) out of the computer. Victor is very, very, VERY smart and handsome. Although Victor doesn't let Yip know it, he actually isn't his friend and Yip has no power over Victor. Victor can morph himself into any character. Victor morphed himself into a grown man and robbed a bank. The bad thing is Victor morphed himself into himself again and the police can't catch him. Worse than that, Victor doesn't have a conscience and doesn't care he did something wrong. Then he tells Yip he is going to Washington to do some buisness. He won't tell Yip why. Yip finds out that Victor is going on the same day the president is making a speech. And Victor has the power to kidnap the president and take over! None of the ways Yip can think of to delete or destroy Victor works! Yip thinks there is no help. But then...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totaly awsome groovy book, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtually Perfect (Hardcover)

"Virtualy Perfect" is the story of a family that moves into a town that has movie companies near it. Yip the teenager is a "nerd". His sister Paige is popular. The grandfather is a retired special effects artist or F/X who worked in the 1930s and 1940s on movies. Yips mom makes the best cookies in town. His dad is a special effects artist also, but he uses computers, the technology of the 1990s.

One day Yip comes home to find blood spots on the floor and a arm sticking out side of the living room door. He walks over to find his grandfather on the floor with a knife in his back. He was scared; he went for the phone when his grandfather jumped up and scared him. He was doing one of his special effects acts.The grandfather and his dad always argue over which F/X is better computers or live stunts,the grandfather proved his F/X is better,

One day Yip decides that he wants to create an actual computer person. So, he creates a person that looks, talks and walks like a real person. He names it Victor. Victor jumped out of the screen and Yip and Victor became friends.

After awhile Victor becomes very different. His face starts changing shapes. And he starts doing crazy stuff. He robed a bank of thirty thousand dollars and puts it in a mailbox and leaves it. Then he starts kissing girls just for the fun of it. Yip became fed up with him and decided to get rid of him.

Finally, Victor and Yip came home to find blood on the floor and an arm outside the door. Victor goe over and sees the grandfather on the floor bleeding. Victor reaches for the phone and dials 911. Victor has a short circuit and is froze. Yip pours water on him and he blew him up. Fireballs were all over the place like fireworks on the 4th of July.

I like this book because i like scientific movies and novels. And a computer generated person jumping out of a screen is pretty scientific.

Further more this is my review on the book Virtualy Perfecy.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was a good book!, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtually Perfect (Paperback)

The book was about a kid who made a computer generated person, and it came to life and tried to ruin everyone else's life. I thought it was a good book, it needed more action, and adventure in it thought, because it got kind of boring at the end. I would reccomend this book for ages under 14.