Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #821942 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-18
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 40 pages

From Amazon.com
"In his tiny bedroom, high above the city, Nova leaned over his workbench--wrapping, twisting, cutting, clipping. The evening sun glinted off his steel brow, then sank behind the crystal spires of Roton, making them glisten like rubies."

So begins David Kirk's futuristic picture book Nova's Ark, the somewhat complex story of a young robot named Nova, whose most precious possession (besides his robot dog "Sparky") is a brittle wooden ark and a set of carved animals made by humans in the ancient days of Roton. Nova misses his dad, who left on a space mission nearly a year ago. He dreams (when plugging himself into the dream console) of flying to the stars with his adventurous father. Exploration, it seems, is "in his wiring."

On a school field trip to the Space Center, Nova's world turns upside down. At the pilot's console of the Glax Cruiser, he can't help himself--he pulls the lever and the spaceship roars to life! Before he knows it he is lost and alone in outer space. Weeks pass. Months! One day, in his search for his home planet, he crashes into a mountain on a barren moon and his ship is destroyed: "There were no signs of robot life. How would he ever get home? Who would take care of his mother? Who would take care of Sparky?" He wondered if this was how his father felt on his lone travels. The next morning he awakes to a cheerful new sun and decides to concoct Sparky number 2 out of the wreckage of his crashed spaceship. He doesn't stop there! He builds a whole menagerie of animals... and last but not least "an elephant ark, whose mighty trunk bellowed a message deep into the heavens: 'HELP!'"

His distant father evidently hears the call, but crashes in his attempt to find his son, and is seriously injured. Each of Nova's robot animals gives something of itself to revive him... and Nova donates a valve from his own heart. It works! Of course, his dad has kangaroo feet... but he is alive! After many mechanical shenanigans--and a wonderful discovery of crystal energy that means salvation for their planet--they fly home to Roton and are greeted as heroes. Kirk, beloved creator of the Miss Spider books, has produced a masterpiece of 3-D computer imaging so vivid it recalls the set of Toy Story, but the plot twists and turns and dense narrative will demand quite a bit more concentration. (Ages 6 and older; perhaps best for reading aloud) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
In this bittersweet tale of sentient robots, Kirk replaces the lush organic scenery of his Miss Spider series with richly colorful industrial shapes. Nova, a square-headed, swivel-jointed droid, owns the title relic: a fanciful wooden ark containing a set of miniature animals. "A ship like this would never fly, he thought, but in those distant times men traveled this planet on seas of water?a liquid that had vanished from Roton long ago." While Nova plays with the ark, he wonders how his star-pilot dad is doing on a mission to find needed fuel for planet Roton. Nova's curiosity about his father leads him on an interstellar mission, during which his skills as an inventor (he creates robotic versions of the animals of the ark and converts one of them to a spaceship) help him and his planet survive. Kirk's sharp-contrast images of spacecraft and rocky surfaces glow with Martian red light and lime-green accents, and appear remarkably three-dimensional. The orbiting ship seems to fly out of the book and into readers' space. Nova's animal friends (among them a metallic Miss Spider) help lift the gloomy mood, as do the hero's charming customs of drinking and bathing in motor oil. Yet the dense, unrhymed prose and stark high-tech imagery can't simulate cheer; Nova's universe is impersonal and bleak. Kirk's melancholy tale imparts a mournful message of a bygone Earth, despite a happy ending for the amiable automatons. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-The creator of the popular "Miss Spider" introduces Nova, a futuristic metal boy whose waterless planet of robots depends on energy-generating crystal for survival. Exploring distant space for this resource, his star-pilot father has entrusted his son with a family heirloom, a wooden ark and animals "carved by men before robots ever existed." During a class trip to the Space Center, Nova slips away from the group for a closer look at a spaceship. Soon, he is hurtling through space, and Kirk's story quickly falls apart. Somehow, the boy travels unharmed for months before crash-landing on a rocky moon. He builds a menagerie of animals and a huge "elephant ark" with the remains of his spaceship. Nova's father crashes on the same moon and the boy saves his life with body parts donated by his metal animals. Together, they discover a huge amount of crystal, ride the elephant ark home, and become heroes. This seemingly endless series of far-fetched coincidences and annoyingly artificial events destroy what might have been an enjoyable tale of family devotion. The book jacket notes that Kirk is working on a full-length animated film featuring Nova. Popping off the page in 3-D fashion, the neon- and metallic-colored illustrations seem ready-made for the big screen. Unfortunately, flat characters and a contrived plot make them appear more gimmicky than creative.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.