The Computer That Ate My Brother - Hardcover

Marney, Dean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395370272 ISBN 13: 9780395370278

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985

Synopsis

The strong, and sometimes nasty sibling rivalry between Harry and his older brother, Roger, comes to a head--and to a final, devastating confrontation--with the arrival of Harry's birthday present, a computer with a supernatural mind of its own

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-7 A good idea gone terribly astray. Harry is intrigued by his birthday present, a computer that somehow talks to him, exhibits human emotions and stages unpredictable disappearances. Yet he is totally unprepared to cope when the computer zaps Harry's obnoxious older brother, Roger. Through a thoroughly unbelievable "mind meld" with the computer, Harry brings back a more likable Roger. While Harry bemoans Roger's awful personality, readers see very little interaction between the two boys; Roger remains undeveloped, and he appears so briefly and infrequently that his reputation as a disgusting, predelinquent creep is unfounded. Harry's whiny, self-pitying narrative soon becomes annoying. Other characters are thinly drawn. The plot moves quickly enough, and there are some wonderful flashes of humor, but as a whole the book is marred by Roger's totally unrealistic transformation and by the hokey and unrealistic "release of power" between Harry and the computer. Kathleen Brachmann, Highland Park Public Library, Ill.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0395370272
• ISBN 13: 9780395370278
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 124