T-Bone the Drone

by Shanda McCloskey

Overview

A new tech toy brings epic trials and triumphs in this playtime adventure for fans of The Most Magnificent Thing and Iggy Peck, Architect.

Lucas has a new best friend when he bring T-Bone the Drone home from the store. They enjoy playing, flying, and even recharging together—but Lucas has been spending so much time with his new toy that he's on the sidelines when he tries to join the neighborhood Wiffle ball game. When the ball sails over the fence where a scary dog lives, it's the perfect opportunity for Lucas and T-Bone to do what friends do best: work together! It turns out that they'll need help from the whole team, though, to save the day...


Finding the solution takes a little ingenuity and a lot of teamwork in this companion story to Doll-E 1.0 celebrating the inventive spirit of modern play.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316510387
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/10/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	656,312
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Shanda McCloskey was inspired to develop the determined, creative characters of Charlotte (Doll-E 1.0) and Lucas (T-Bone the Drone) by the entrepreneurial spirit of her family members and by watching her inventive children play with their toys. Shanda lives near Atlanta, Georgia, and invites you to visit her at shandamc.com.

Editorial Reviews

2019-07-28
A little black boy and his drone get into quite a conundrum trying to retrieve a ball from a neighbor's backyard.

It is love at first sight when Lucas first lays eyes on T-Bone the drone. Lucas does everything with his drone, but actually maneuvering the device proves challenging. In his determination to help T-Bone fly, Lucas prefers companionship with his electronic pal to playing whiffle ball with his friends. When a friend hits the whiffle ball and it bounces off of T-Bone over the fence into a neighbor's yard, Lucas sees an opportunity to get the ball and win back his friends. Lucas decides to trespass into the neighbor's yard to retrieve the ball, but there's an unfriendly dog on the other side of the fence, and he gives up. Lucas decides to use his drone to help get the ball back, so his friends help build a contraption that will allow T-Bone to fly over the fence and lift the ball from the dog's jaws. Cheerful illustrations glow with yellows and cool blues that evoke lightness and fun, but they are betrayed by darker themes of trespassing, severed human interaction, and electronic obsession. The friendly twist at the end does not mitigate the danger inherent in Lucas' decision to trespass, one that in the real world could have dire consequences for a black boy like Lucas.

Despite the novelty of a character of color using technology, this book is one to skip. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews