Max Booth future sleuth: Chip Blip by Cameron Macintosh

Illus. by Dave Atze. Big Sky Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9781922265685.
(Ages 8-10). Highly recommended. Max Booth is an 11-year-old detective living in the 25th century with his trusty robot dog, Oscar. Together they identify and explore objects from the ancient past - the 20th and 21st centuries. Jessie is a friend to Max and works at the Bluggsville City Museum. She allows Max and Oscar to live in the storage area of the Museum in return for helping her to investigate some strange objects that arrive at the Museum. In this story Jesse gives Max what looks like a grain of rice with metal on it which they decide must be a microchip from at least 400 years ago. The Splinternet (25th century replacement for the Internet, which was obliterated in 2037, and is much faster!) gives them nothing to go on. Max tries to use one of the old computers that are on a junk pile in the storeroom and has some luck, finding a barcode that may reveal more about the chip. He needs the help of the people at the Records office in Bluggsville to find out more about the chip but while there he encounters some trouble and nearly loses Oscar to the Bluggsville zoo. As things heat up for Max and Oscar, they realize they are onto a very valuable piece of historic memorabilia that many other people have been looking for and will do anything to get.
This is a very entertaining and fast-paced story that will keep readers guessing until the end. It is the fifth book in this high interest, low reading level series. At just under 120 pages with quite large type, it is the perfect series to appeal to those children who don't read many books. It is also a good short read for any child with an interest in technology and the future. Themes: Detectives, Future, Dogs, Robots.
Gabrielle Anderson