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wordnerd153's review
4.0
Disturbingly relevant to our current time of living during a pandemic. Good balance of science, action and humor.
aklibrarychick's review
4.0
I had a hard time getting into this book at first, but once it got going it was a whole lot of fun. Having been released during, the pandemic, this book was so interesting and raised a lot of questions. Cleo has grown up in a self-contained apartment in a self-contained apartment building. The only physical contact she has ever had with another human is her own parents. She has virtual friends, but no real ones, and she has never been outside. Never seen the sun. Never walked on grass. Everything they need is delivered through a tube. She lives this way because of a terrible flu epidemic. When nothing else worked, society decided the only way to survive was to completely seal themselves off - from the world and from each other.
Cleo is on track to become a surgeon like her mother, but before she is to take a big test, a misdelivered packet of medications arrives in their apartment. It is an essential, life-saving medication, and what's more, this is the first time in her knowledge that a mistake has ever been made in deliveries. Her parents are very nonchalant about it, but Cleo decides she will somehow sneak out and get the medication to its recipient. And that's when the story really takes off. After this moment, literally everything Cleo experiences is a first, and she finds herself having to be stronger and braver than she's ever been.
Cleo is on track to become a surgeon like her mother, but before she is to take a big test, a misdelivered packet of medications arrives in their apartment. It is an essential, life-saving medication, and what's more, this is the first time in her knowledge that a mistake has ever been made in deliveries. Her parents are very nonchalant about it, but Cleo decides she will somehow sneak out and get the medication to its recipient. And that's when the story really takes off. After this moment, literally everything Cleo experiences is a first, and she finds herself having to be stronger and braver than she's ever been.
authorlibrarianrachel's review
3.0
This is not a bad book. In fact, if I were an eight-year-old child reviewing this story, I’d probably give it 5 stars. Cleo Porter is charming, inventive, and easy to identify with. The lack of skin color descriptions will allow kids of any race to picture her looking more like them even though she was probably intended to be seen as white. The story is engaging. And if I were a child, the twist ending might have actually surprised me. As an adult, however, I knew exactly what was happening from the moment the medication was delivered. However, despite knowing where the book was headed, I still enjoyed the ride.
jmwilson's review
5.0
This sci-fi middle grade novel will have you sitting on the edge of your seat the entire time. Cleo Porter is studying to become a surgeon in futuristic quarantine times. Medicine for a dying woman is mysteriously delivered by a drone to her apartment. Cleo is so compassionate that she goes on a dangerous quest to try to deliver the medicine to the unknown woman. This is a must read for middle grade students who have recently been quarantined during the Coronavius of 2020. Jake Burt really knows how to connect to readers. Will there be a sequel in the future?
naomiysl's review
5.0
Surprisingly gentle for the content, in a way that warmed me all over. One might think that in the midst of COVID19 this book would be too difficult to read, but I found it to be endearing. So expressly midgrade and not YA! SpoilerYes the adults were all lying to her (which would have happened in the YA version) but it was just for her own good (which is not hte YA version at all). Yes there was a difficult decision to make, but she got to decide both instead of one or the other. All in all, a delightful read.
aprildiamond's review
4.0
I cried reading the end/part of the acknowledgements and that's why you don't read a pandemic book during a pandemic!!
in all seriousness this was really good and definitely surprised me a bit near the end.
in all seriousness this was really good and definitely surprised me a bit near the end.
barberchicago_books's review
4.0
Thank you, MacKids for giving me an ARC to read& share!
Cleo Porter and the Body Electric was - according to the author - an idea about a post-pandemic world that he started writing pre-pandemic. But wow do times change, and Cleo’s story about perseverance, compassion, AND change, has never been more relevant.
Cleo is a brilliant kid who, in her house that’s become her whole world, is practicing to become a doctor, an occupation for which she’s on a track that started when she was very young. But it’s Cleo’s compassion and determination that start her on a quest to deliver vital medicine to a woman in her unit when it accidentally gets delivered to the wrong address.
Loved Cleo. Strong female protagonists are fantastic. Her journey developed not only her emotional strength, but her physical strength in ways she didn’t realize she needed, as well as her ability to see things from a completely different perspective. The ending is something the kids won’t see coming, and is a lesson for us all.
The only reason I gave this book four stars because some of the descriptions were a bit difficult to follow (world-building is HARD) and lengthy, and it made men wonder if that might make some kids put the book down. Other than that, I loved it and will definitely be adding it to my classroom library when it’s our next month!
Cleo Porter and the Body Electric was - according to the author - an idea about a post-pandemic world that he started writing pre-pandemic. But wow do times change, and Cleo’s story about perseverance, compassion, AND change, has never been more relevant.
Cleo is a brilliant kid who, in her house that’s become her whole world, is practicing to become a doctor, an occupation for which she’s on a track that started when she was very young. But it’s Cleo’s compassion and determination that start her on a quest to deliver vital medicine to a woman in her unit when it accidentally gets delivered to the wrong address.
Loved Cleo. Strong female protagonists are fantastic. Her journey developed not only her emotional strength, but her physical strength in ways she didn’t realize she needed, as well as her ability to see things from a completely different perspective. The ending is something the kids won’t see coming, and is a lesson for us all.
The only reason I gave this book four stars because some of the descriptions were a bit difficult to follow (world-building is HARD) and lengthy, and it made men wonder if that might make some kids put the book down. Other than that, I loved it and will definitely be adding it to my classroom library when it’s our next month!