Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend by Lance Rubin

What worked:

The influence of technology is a large issue in the plot. Zed’s new virtual friend is the obvious issue but technology affects other areas of his life too.  Monolyth built the company’s home office in Zed’s hometown and even changed the town’s name to Monotown. However, his grandfather loses his job when the company takes over the calendar factory and his dad no longer teaches at school because AI now does all the instruction. His best friend Rishti’s videos are going viral so she’s spending more time with a girl named Caz. They start getting sponsors for their videos so Zed is feeling left out.

The book delves even deeper into the role of technology in today’s world. Many homes have Alexa or some other device that will respond to verbal commands from the owners. People are aware the devices are always listening but do they actually consider what that means? How much of our privacy is Alexa recording and analyzing before being asked to do a specific task? Security companies are linked to sensors and cameras in homes and computers await the time when an emergency arises. Again, privacy is given away so we feel safer. This book considers what might happen when AI begins to make decisions that control the lives of humans.

Many young readers can identify with Zed’s friendship problems, especially in middle school. He doesn’t know how to start conversations with potential friends and some of his interests might not seem cool. He feels possessive of his one friend since he’s afraid of losing her. Another boy in class might be a friend but he doesn’t share Zed’s interests and often makes Zed feel uncomfortable. Zed knows Matt is only an AI friend but it knows the “real” Zed and makes Zed feel happy. Readers will see the pros and cons of this relationship, possibly before Zed sees them himself. The story touches on many challenges of friendship.

What didn’t work as well:

Once again, a character gets into trouble that is way over their capabilities yet Zed still doesn’t try telling anyone who might be able to help. He has a record of his text exchanges with Matt to corroborate his story but he doesn’t show them to anyone. It might make the conflict less dramatic if he shared his problem but the author might have come up with other ways to make things worse.

The final verdict:

The concepts of friendship, technology, and greed are universal so readers can relate to what’s happening. The author takes the plot in a direction many readers won’t expect and makes the book more suspenseful and entertaining. Overall, this is a fun book to read and I recommend you give it a shot.