With the arrival of January, many readers’ thoughts have switched from their Best of 2024 titles to those coming out in 2025 and I am no exception. Having spent the festive season catching up on some of the many books that have been sitting on my shelf for some time, I found myself checking out NetGalley to see if anything new had been added and could not have been more thrilled when I found this had popped up.

A huge fan of Pádraig Kenny’s writing, this is a read that I was so confident of enjoying that I downloaded it immediately and launched straight in. Another incredible middle grade, in common with the author’s last title Stitch, this is a story that takes a good hard look at what it is to be human but one that, unlike Stitch, explores the role of AI and a terrible possible outcome of our increasing reliance on technology.

Like all children, Jen is curious about the world around her but in her case, she is particularly interested in how the world ended – something that Father has told her about many, many times. As they head towards the old city that stands in front of them in search of food and other supplies, Jen listens carefully as Father once again explains to her how humans slowly destroyed the world – initially its habitats and ultimately many of their own kind in the Flood.

Reaching the city, Jen is keen to search the long-empty shelves of its supermarkets and excited to visit its libraries, in the hopes of nourishing her mind as well as her body. Once they have seen all that there is for them to see, and have failed to add to their meagre supplies, they set out again – passing the wreckage of various robots on their way. After stopping for the night in a nearby forest, Jen and Father take a detour from their intended path to investigate some lights they have seen, with Father warning Jen that the lights might well mean other people, who may not be friendly.

When the inevitable happens, Jen is beyond happy to discover that the small community they have stumbled across appears to be welcoming and longs to join them. But with Father in fact an autonomous robot, whose appearance mimics that of a human, will the two of them be able to keep the truth of his existence a secret from their new, technophobic friends? And if they can’t, what will the outcome be for both of them?

While Jen and Father are very obviously not biologically related to one another, the parent-child bond between the two of them could not be closer. He is driven by his programming, which in theory leaves him free of emotions, and is reliant on a book on childcare that he has found to be his guide in looking after his charge but clearly feels something towards Jen, even if he is unable to recognise it for what it is. She, on the other hand, has had very little contact with other humans since being found and rescued as a baby but has grown up to respect and love the robot dearly.

When they come across the small group of survivors, who appear to offer everything that Jen has longed for, she is faced with an impossible choice: the community or Father but – of course – being human, not only wants both but needs them both too. This vision of a dystopian future where humankind’s ever-increasing thirst for technological advancement has proved to be its complete undoing is one that is utterly credible. Very few of us have been able to resist the many attractions of smartphones and AI is increasingly present in all of our lives, with significant numbers of us blissfully unaware of its increasing influence – something that I find quite terrifying. For young readers, who are completely accepting of all that the digital age has brought and continues to bring, this is not just a story about what it is to be human and what constitutes a family, but a really thought-provoking exploration of just how far we as the planet’s dominant species should go in our quest for a better life.

In addition to the book’s short length (240 pages), artist Steve McCarthy’s glorious cover and gorgeous chapter heading illustrations make this an enormously tempting read for those in Year 4 upwards – one that I really enjoyed and that young readers will too – whether as a solo read, at bedtime or in class, where I’m sure that there will be lots of discussions arising from it.

I am hugely indebted to both publisher Walker Books and to NetGalley for my advance, virtual read of this title. After publishes 6th March.