



The Forgetting Machine
-
- $7.99
-
- $7.99
Publisher Description
People all over Flinkwater are losing their memories—and it’s up to Ginger to figure out what’s going on—in this sequel to the “quirky, dryly funny” (Booklist) The Flinkwater Factor from National Book Award–winning author Pete Hautman.
Absentmindedness in Flinkwater, a town overflowing with eccentric scientists and engineers, is nothing new. Recently, however, the number of confused, forgetful citizens has been increasing, and no one seems to know why. Ginger Crump figures it’s none of her business. She has her own problems. Like the strange cat that’s been following her around—a cat that seems to be able to read. And the report for school due Monday. And the fact that every digital book in Flinkwater has been vandalized by a fanatical censor, forcing Ginger to the embarrassingly retro alternative of reading books printed on dead trees.
But when Ginger’s true love and future husband Billy Bates completely forgets who she is, things suddenly get serious, and Ginger swings into action.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this engrossing sequel to The Flinkwater Factor, Ginger Crump, now 14, has some problems on her hands. An ever-increasing number of people in Flinkwater, Iowa, home to many science and software geniuses, have begun forgetting things, most worrisome being her father, who can't remember their cat, and her "Soul Mate and True Love" Billy, who can't remember Ginger. Her school report on the origin of the name Flinkwater has hit a dead end. And the e-reader version of Charlotte's Web, which Ginger is in the midst of obsessively reading, has been hacked. When Mr. Rausch, a neuroprosthetics expert, uses his experimental memorization technique to help people remember information, Billy and Ginger wonder if it also causes other memories to be pushed out. As Ginger pursues every lead to solve these mysteries, her perspective on her world one in which robots service every home, libraries with paper books have nearly disappeared, and new inventions are continuously surfacing begins to change. Ginger's escapades fill Hautman's story with energy and humor while raising thought-provoking questions about technological advances. Ages 9 13.