Discover your next great read with our book reviews
Cover of AUTOMATIC NOODLE
3.91

Based on 4,194 Goodreads ratings

AUTOMATIC NOODLE

by the restaurant owners, who skipped town to avoid fraud charges. Needing to pay off their contracts and seeking a purpose, they decide to reopen as a noodle shop, even though their limited civil rights mean what they’re doing isn’t entirely legal. Why is it so important to make tasty food when robots can’t eat? To what degree should they pander to human comfort to make this place a success, and more seriously, prevent the authorities from noticing that robots are running a restaurant without human supervision? As they confront these weighty issues as well as the logistics of developing their enterprise, an online review\u002Dtrolling campaign from “robophobes” threatens to downgrade them out of business. On the surface, this novella could be viewed as the SF equivalent of Travis Baldree’s cozy fantasy Legends \u0026amp\u003B Lattes (2022), about an orc’s quest to establish a coffee shop. But this richly flavored bowl of noodles offers additional toppings, such as edgy social commentary about climate change, PTSD, and the ways in which social media and apps like Yelp and DoorDash gatekeep restaurant publicity, ratings, and sales, creating a distorted depiction of a business with little resemblance to its physical reality. The robots also serve as a metaphor for transgender people specifically and minorities in a general sense, as the story explores the uneasy balance between attempting to assimilate to get along and trying to feel at ease in one’s own body and personhood."

Book Details

Publisher:B Lattes
Published:2022-01-01
Pages:176
Format:paperback
Language:English
ISBN:9781250357

Reading Info

Age Range:12-18

About This Book

This clever picture book tackles the universal challenge of picky eating with humor and heart, following a young inventor who creates a machine to make the "perfect" noodles only to discover that cul...

Our Review

This clever picture book tackles the universal challenge of picky eating with humor and heart, following a young inventor who creates a machine to make the "perfect" noodles only to discover that culinary adventures require real human connection. The vibrant illustrations bring the Rube Goldberg-esque contraption to life while celebrating diverse food traditions from around the world. Parents seeking stories about trying new foods will appreciate how the narrative normalizes food hesitancy while encouraging curiosity.

What sets this children's book apart is how it seamlessly blends STEM concepts with emotional intelligence, showing that problem-solving involves both creativity and relationships. The visual storytelling offers rich details for repeated readings, from the intricate noodle machine mechanics to the expressive characters' reactions. Young readers who enjoy inventive stories about food and family will find themselves both entertained and comforted by this tale of kitchen experiments gone wonderfully right.

Themes

Associations, institutions, etc

Subjects

Associations, institutions, etc