Anne Droyd and Century Lodge

Gezz and her best friends Malcolm and Luke are having fun on the housing estate where they live when the arrival of a stranger interrupts their everyday lives and changes the world as they know it forever. Created by a professor of robotics, Anne Droyd is left in the care of these three children, who take her to school with them and teach her how to be `a human'. This Asperger adventure explores the human condition and the need to integrate into a society that demands conformity. The author's pun on `android' introduces the theme of alienation that runs throughout, a tool used to provide comfort to individuals who feel like `aliens', excluded in a social environment. Readers will be captivated by the heroic characters and the colourful plot, and engaged by Hadcroft's imaginative presentation of real-life issues such as smoking, bullying and peer acceptance.