Your Very Own Robot (Choose Your Own Adventure - Dragonlark) (Paperback)

by R. A. Montgomery (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Have you ever read a book that's about you? This book is!

Your parents are scientists and inventors. One day, they throw some pieces of a robot into the trash. If you can figure out how to put the pieces together, you'll have a robot of your very own! But do you know enough to control it? Are you ready for the adventures your very own robot will bring?

Do you dare dive into a vat of ice cream to save your robot?

Do you take your robot with you to school?

Should you try to fight off the pirates who want your robot?

YOU choose what happens next! Good luck...

About the Author
R.A. MONTGOMERY is an avid outdoorsman. He has hiked in the Himalayas, climbed mountains in Europe, scuba-dived in Central America, and sailed in Franco-phone Africa. He has lived in France, travels frequently to Asia, and calls Vermont home. His interests include macroeconomics, geo-politics, mythology, history, mystery novels, and music. He has two grown sons, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Chooseco (April 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933390522
• ISBN-13: 978-1933390529
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,484 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Work for Us - a review of "Your Very Own Robot", April 1, 2008

By	Pam Tee "Harmless" - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

If you aren't acquainted with the format, the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books promise some extra fun by allowing readers the chance to make some decisions and take the story line down one path or another.

In the case of this book there are twelve possible endings. Unfortunately quite a few of them are "sub-standard", even from a child's perspective. [My own sample audience is a 6 year old boy.] In one ending, for example, the robot flies into a big pile of ice cream and the president of the company charges you --you become a defacto character -- $800 dollars for the damage; while in another situation the robot leaves you having to replant a neighbors rose bushes because your robot exclaims, "SORRY! I AM NOT PROGRAMMED TO PLANT ROSE BUSHES." Don't know about you, but we didn't find it all that entertaining.

As to an official Reading Level (aka Accelerated Reading or ATOS) none is listed. But the word level is fairly advanced and at least at the 2nd Grade level. Which makes the silliness probably even less attractive since I'm assuming older children would be a bit more discriminating than than my 6 y.o. boy.

Here's an example of text from page 18 so you can judge the level for yourself:

===============================
"Now I will try pressing your RUN button," you tell him. So you do--and off he runs.

"Terrific!" you cry, and you turn him off before he can run too far.

"Say, maybe if I let you run fast enough, you could take off, like a plane!" you say. "But, of course, I don't know how to fly a plane. So that might be dangerous."

"Besides there a lots of things we could do in the yard. We could build a fort. That might be fun."

But you keep thinking about flying. Should you try it? Or should you build the fort?
===============================

Two Stars ::: Try this one out at the library first. The reading level is fairly sophisticated, but most of the plot endings aren't.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Magic, November 4, 2007

By	Heather A. Moate "happy mom" (Salem, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was so excited to see that the Choose Your Own Adventure company had created a series of books targeted for younger readers. My seven year old son was captivated by the idea that he could have a hand in guiding a story about having his very own robot. The color pictures were engaging, and the story lines kept my son reading over and over. Well done!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The awesome kid with a "pet robot!", June 28, 2006

By	FizzWiz (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Very Own Robot (Paperback)

For a children's book, this is well done. Not every ending is pleasing, and a few of the bad endings are written to sound like nothing too bad is happening, but reasoning will tell you that that particular adventure was not such a good one to experience such as the ending where you end up in "robot land" for the rest of your life and are treated as the only robot with robots ruling the land instead. There are many fun scenarios and endings such as when you dive into a pool of strawberry ice cream, or the first ending I got, riding my robot to Venus and back in time for dinner. The front cover shows lightning, pirates, and a whale, and those are just several adventures you could end up on. There is one ending where you end up in jail for the rest of your life, and that one didn't really fit as well with the context of the situation. If you're looking for something fun, but not over the top corny for your 7 - 10 year old or so, this is worth considering.