The Great Interactive Dream Machine

by Richard Peck

Overview

Josh Lewis' best friend, Aaron Zimmer, has turned his computer into a wish-granting machine. It ought to be every techno-addict's dream, but there are a few bugs in the system. Nobody knows when the computer will interactivate next--and it doesn't just grant Josh and Aaron's wishes. In fact, Aaron's mom's poodle seems to eb doing some of the wishing, too. When a mysterious spy called The Watcher starts monitoring their every move in cyberspace, the real trouble begins in this compelling story from Newbery medal-winning author Richard Peck.

"A guaranteed fun, faced-paced adventure."--School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101174357
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/01/1998
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	228 KB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

RICHARD PECK (1934-2018) was born in Decatur, Illinois and lived in New York City for nearly 50 years. The acclaimed author of 35 novels for children and young adults, he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a Newbery Honor for A Long Way from Chicago, the Scott O’Dell Award for The River Between Us, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Are You in the House Alone?, a Boston Globe-Horn BookAward Honor for The Best Man, and the Christopher Medal for The Teacher’s Funeral. He was the first children’s author ever to have been awarded a National Humanities Medal, and was twice a National Book Award Finalist.  

Editorial Reviews

When New York City prep-schooler Josh meddles with his best friend Aaron's computer project, a dinosaur presentation becomes a wish-granting program. The boys, first seen in Peck's Lost in Cyberspace, tap into the wishes of those around them: Josh's airhead sister wants to go to the Hamptons, a grumpy old spinster wants to go back in time, and the shih tzu downstairs just wants to go out. Josh and Aaron's wish, to be bigger and stronger than the class bully, yields wildly funny results. Individual episodes will provoke laughter and even thought, but a predictable plot involving a threatening cyber-spy fails to provide dramatic tension. Aaron's technical jargon sheds no light on the logic of the "dream machine" and his lengthy discourses may bore some readers: "Josh," he says, "the past, the present and the future are a multiple program running concurrently, with peripherals." Although the sentimental conclusion carries little emotional weight, the story's fast pace and clever one-liners make it an enjoyable light read for science fiction fans. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-6The continuing adventures through time, space, and middle school of Josh Lewis and Aaron Zimmer, first introduced in Lost in Cyberspace (Dial, 1995). Techno-nerd Aaron has found a formula that allows cyberspace travel through cellular reorganization. Unfortunately, there are bugs in the program that turn the computer into an uncontrollable wish-granting time-travel machine. The boys shun soccer camp, instead attending summer school for history at their exclusive New York City private school. Their study of World War II has surprising results for their 80-year-old lonesome neighbor, Miss Mathers. Humor, fantasy, science fiction, and even a touch of mystery all cleverly combine to make this book a guaranteed fun, fast-paced adventure.Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME

School Library Journal

The Great Interactive Dream Machine ( Oct. 1996; 149 pp.; 0- 8037-1989-2): In this sequel to Lost in Cyberspace (1995), computer-whiz Aaron Zimmer has accidentally given his computer the ability to grant wishes. A bug in the formula makes it grant the most emotionally powerful wishes of any creature in the area, including poodles. Peck's book may not "rank right up there with the discovery of radium and call waiting," and the intriguing premise gives way to a story that is over before it really gets going. Still, some biting prose, larded up with enough technobabble to fuel a starship, should keep computer geeks chortling in the chat-rooms.

Kirkus Reviews