Vaughan ( Six) imparts sophisticated social commentary in this tale of friendship with a futuristic twist, told alternatively in the voice of 12-year-old Danny and in the journal entries of his friend Eric, nicknamed Slick. The satisfying revelation of Slick’s strangeness contrasts engagingly with the absurd humor of this odd-couple friendship, and Vaughan executes her satire effectively for an audience that may not be accustomed to it.Ī timely parable for this generation of digital natives.” (Kirkus Reviews) But can they keep Slick safe from his creators? Their friendship is a first for both of them: Danny’s first friendship at all and Slick’s first friendship that isn’t just about popularity.

But he bonds with Danny over the one thing he loves that isn’t popular: the online game Land X. “A 12-year-old loner makes friends with a popular classmate-who just happens to be an android.ĭanny introduces Slick’s story by telling readers how it ends: Slick is dead, he was murdered, and he was an android.…Slick (real name Eric) thinks he’s a regular kid: He’s focused on how many friends he has on Kudos, enthralled with his many pairs of Slick sneakers and his Oldean T-shirts-he is so brand-obsessed he sounds like a present-day social media influencer-and ignored by his equally popularity-hungry parents.

A project called SIX.FRIENDROID / SLICK Stranger Things meets robots in this sweet story about an unlikely friendship between two boys-one human, one android. A perfectly sinister project that threatens far more than Parker's family. But all the signs point to one thing: the company his dad works for is up to something big. Now Parker and Emma, along with their friend Michael and Polly the pig, must find this person-the only link to their father-but the search asks more questions than it answers. Thanks to a message his dad sent via thoughts before the signal cut off, Parker is suddenly on a rescue mission. He misses London and his friends, his father is distracted with his new job, and Emma is looking out for him instead of the other way around.Īnd then Parker's dad, on the cusp of a technological breakthrough, is kidnapped. When Parker, his dad, and sister Emma move to New York three years after his mother's death, Parker is having a hard time. Parker and his family share a secret: they can, with the help of advanced technology, communicate between themselves through their thoughts. Parker and his sister will do whatever it takes to find their father in this adventure packed with action and mystery from the author of The Ability and Mindscape.

The Ability by M.M. Vaughan