Bechard, Margaret. Spacer and Rat.BECHARD, Margaret. Spacer and Rat. Roaring Brook. 192p. c2005. 1-59643-058-3. $16.95. J Jack is a Spacer, working in a bar on an inhabited asteroid. His family was one of the early colonists from Earth, which is slowly being evacuated. Jack's luck is looking up as he is slated for a better job on the distinct colony of Liberty; he is also promised a lucrative amount of credits (i.e., money) if he can find the whereabouts of a sentient sentient /sen·ti·ent/ (sen´she-ent) able to feel; sensitive. sen·tient adj. 1. Having sense perception; conscious. 2. Experiencing sensation or feeling. bot (1) (roBOT) A program used on the Internet that performs a repetitive function such as posting a message to multiple newsgroups or searching for information or news. Bots are used to provide comparison shopping. Bots also keep a channel open on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC). . Then he bumps into a "rat": a scrawny Earthie girl named Kit. Teenage spacers get their kicks bullying Earthies, and Kit is no exception. However, she is surprisingly wily, and she persuades Jack to help her out. Jack discovers that Kit is bound for Seattle Prime, another space station, to deliver her dead father's great invention: the sought-after bot. Jack knows that inventing intelligent bots bots maggots of flies which infest animals, especially horses and sheep. The term bot is also loosely used to include the invasive maggots such as those of Cuterebra and Wohlfahrtia spp. horse bots see gasterophilus. is illegal, but when the bot, who names himself Waldo, helps the duo out of a tight jam, Jack can't bear to betray the girl and her companion. As a result, all three are being hunted, and it's hard to tell who are the "good guys" and who are the baddies. Plenty of action and edgy conversations will engage hip young SF readers. Course language is cleverly disguised: "Oh, Pluto!" instead of "Oh, God" and "drekking idiot" instead of standard profanity Irreverence towards sacred things; particularly, an irreverent or blasphemous use of the name of God. Vulgar, irreverent, or coarse language. The use of certain profane or obscene language on the radio or television is a federal offense, but in other situations, profanity . "Flash" is used instead of "bad" or "awesome" (to the point of banality), and readers will have fun decoding de·code tr.v. de·cod·ed, de·cod·ing, de·codes 1. To convert from code into plain text. 2. To convert from a scrambled electronic signal into an interpretable one. 3. the SF slang (e.g., "vid," "plexy," "manip," "atmo"). The underlying themes and messages of friendship and dependability are timeless, and the treatment is pretty much violence and sex-free, so this story can be a good "sell" for middle schoolers. Dr. Lesley Farmer, Lib. Svcs., CSULB CSULB California State University at Long Beach , Long Beach, CA J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. |
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