A Curious Robot on Mars!

K-Gr 2—Curiosity the robot rover has been sent by Mission Control to find evidence of life on Mars. After he finds ice and rocks, he receives a message that his mission is over. The robot begs not to be left all alone on the planet, but two-way communication has ceased. He continues to roam until he finds a huge chasm and, at the bottom, far below, piles of leaves, Laika the famous space dog, and Sputnik, the forgotten spaceship. "Earth would never know, but there was life on Mars." No one is at the control center, and then his radio battery runs out. "But he really didn't care—he loved exploring no matter what." The illustrations in this odd tale are flat and have a limited palette. An author's note states that Curiosity actually exists and is currently on Mars gathering data. While the afterword says that Sputnik and Laika are not likely to be found on Mars, it begs the question, why place them in this story at all and with the suggestion that Sputnik is a life-form? Pass on this one.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA