Molly and the Machine (Far Flung Falls #1)

In his middle grade debut, Slangerup delivers a STEM-themed romp bursting with hand-built tech and 1980s nostalgia. In 1983, 11-year-old inventor Molly McQuirter expects to spend a lonely, rural Ohio summer tinkering with her massive Rube Goldberg machine and reluctantly caring for her nose-picking younger brother, Wally, whom she blames for their mother’s leaving, while the “dad-shaped shell” of her father wallows in front of the television. But when a giant robot abducts Wally from their backyard, Molly loads her bike with fluffernutter sandwiches, gadgetry, and assorted family pets to hunt what she suspects is a Soviet invention. Joined by an arcade-whiz schoolmate and her idiosyncratic great-uncle, whose inventions look “like something out of an old, low-budget sci-fi movie,” Molly traverses the hazardous woods to rescue Wally. While the omniscient narration focuses primarily on Molly, Slangerup complicates the story and heightens comedy by occasionally following other perspectives, including the family dog’s. On-the-nose emotional revelations limit the novel’s thematic resonance, but slapstick and toilet humor drive a riotous adventure that’s well calibrated to the audience’s sensibilities. Characters cue as white; an author’s note concludes. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elizabeth Rudnick, Mackenzie Wolf. (June)