6.8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Dewey Decimal 813 Originally published 1984 Genre Children's literature | 3.4/5 Goodreads Publication date 1984 LC Class PZ7.B9836Co Illustrator Betsy Cromer Byars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Computer Nut is a 1984 children's novel written by Betsy Byars. It was the first novel Betsy Byars wrote on her new computer.
Contents
Plot summary
Kate Morrison, the title character, is receiving messages on her computer purportedly from an extraterrestrial, BB-19, who claims he can monitor and control all computers on Earth. At first, she and her friend Linda investigate the communication as a prank; one of their suspects is Willie
Reception
The novel won the 1986–1987 Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award. A reviewer from Kirkus Reviews stated the "who's-on-the-computer? gambit, and the true-to-character humor holds up well enough to keep readers going--even if the thwarted space-comedian bombs out." Caroline Ward from the School Library Journal did not view the book as positively, commenting that the book's "[p]lot and characterization fall short of Byars' usual perceptive fare" and it is "not convincing as either an alien-from-another-world story or as an addition to the plethora of computer fiction." Zena Sutherland, writing for Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, stated the book was "at times funny," but that "it's not up to Byars' usual high standard in plot or cohesion of content." The Times Literary Supplement's Julia Briggs felt the book failed to "exploit the intriguing if unpoetic possibilities of computer language."