How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me from Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel

Seventh-grader Luke Abbott lives for afternoons spent playing video games like Alien Onslaught. So he is upset when his father insists that Luke join a new after-school robotics club, led by a hapless teacher and populated with a group of misfits who include Lunchbox Jones—the near-silent, borderline-feral boy everyone in school fears—and Missy Farnham, who has been Luke’s enemy ever since she made him the laughingstock of their elementary school. Luke is also covering up feelings of betrayal and abandonment, now that his older brother has enlisted in the Marines. Brown (Life on Mars) offers a winning blend of humorous and poignant moments as Luke comes to see that there’s more to Missy and Lunchbox than meets the eye, and that life beyond video games has a lot to offer. Luke’s struggles with his brother’s choices will resonate with readers facing a complex and uncertain world, while his comically agonized musings (“Something else to hate about robotics: it suddenly made everyone you knew imitate bad robots from 1970s movies”) will keep them entertained. Ages 8–12. Agent: Cori Deyoe, 3 Seas Literary Agency. (Aug.)