The Flinkwater Factor (1) (The Flinkwater Chronicles) - Softcover

Hautman, Pete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1481432524 ISBN 13: 9781481432528

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016

Synopsis

Ginger must save her high-tech hometown from robots gone rogue in this “quirky, dryly funny” (Booklist) science fiction novel from National Book Award–winning author Pete Hautman.

Welcome to Flinkwater, Iowa, home of the largest manufacturer of Articulated Computerized Peripheral Devices in the world. If you own a robot, it probably came from Flinkwater.

Meet Ginger Crump, the plucky, precocious (and somewhat sarcastic) genius who finds herself in the middle of a national emergency when Flinkwater’s computers start turning people into vegetables. Mental vegetables, that is. In Ginger’s words, they’ve been “bonked.”

When Ginger’s father is bonked, she recruits her self-declared future husband, boy genius Billy George, to help her find the source of the bonkings. Soon they’re up against a talking dog, a sasquatch, and a zombie, while Flinkwater is invaded by an army of black SUVs led by the witless-but-dangerous Agent Ffelps from Homeland Security. Can Ginger get to the bottom of the bonkings, or will computer chaos reign forever?

About this title

About the Author

Pete Hautman is the author of National Book Award–winning novel Godless, Sweetblood, Hole in the Sky, Stone Cold, The Flinkwater Factor, The Forgetting Machine, and Mr. Was, which was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America, as well as several adult novels. He lives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Visit him at PeteHautman.com.

 

From School Library Journal

Gr 3–6—Ginger Crump lives in Flinkwater, IA. That may sound dull and boring, except for the fact that a screen saver or "screenie" is turning people into drooling zombies. Most people in town work for ACPOD, a Silicon Valley-like technology company. This means that most residents are of high intelligence. Ginger quickly figures out how to avoid getting "bonked" by the hidden code. She and her crush, Billy George, have to solve the problem while dodging the authorities who think they are terrorists. Hautman creates fun, smart characters with brilliant minds. Just when they think they have solved the "bonking" problem, a talking dog enters the scene, which takes the story in another hilarious direction, and readers meet even more colorful characters. While all of this is going on, Ginger is also concerned with the simple things such as, when will she finally get to kiss someone? Hautman includes a guide at the back of the book explaining which scientific details mentioned in the chapters are real or science fiction. Is the poop-net real? Readers will likely want to find out. VERDICT Middle grade fans of Carl Hiassen's mysteries will enjoy Hautman's inventive characters and plot.—Kris Hickey, Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1481432524
• ISBN 13: 9781481432528
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272