The Forgetting Machine

by Pete Hautman

Overview

People all over Flinkwater are losing their memories—and it’s up to Ginger to figure out what’s going on—in this sequel to the “quirky, dryly funny” (Booklist) The Flinkwater Factor from National Book Award–winning author Pete Hautman.

Absentmindedness in Flinkwater, a town overflowing with eccentric scientists and engineers, is nothing new. Recently, however, the number of confused, forgetful citizens has been increasing, and no one seems to know why. Ginger Crump figures it’s none of her business. She has her own problems. Like the strange cat that’s been following her around—a cat that seems to be able to read. And the report for school due Monday. And the fact that every digital book in Flinkwater has been vandalized by a fanatical censor, forcing Ginger to the embarrassingly retro alternative of reading books printed on dead trees.

But when Ginger’s true love and future husband Billy Bates completely forgets who she is, things suddenly get serious, and Ginger swings into action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481464390
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Series:	The Flinkwater Chronicles , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

Pete Hautman is the author of National Book Award winner Godless, Sweetblood, Hole in the Sky, Stone Cold, the Flinkwater Chronicles, Road Tripped, Otherwood, Slider, and Mr. Was, which was nominated for an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America, as well as several other novels for children and adults. He lives in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Editorial Reviews

06/20/2016
In this engrossing sequel to The Flinkwater Factor, Ginger Crump, now 14, has some problems on her hands. An ever-increasing number of people in Flinkwater, Iowa, home to many science and software geniuses, have begun forgetting things, most worrisome being her father, who can’t remember their cat, and her “Soul Mate and True Love” Billy, who can’t remember Ginger. Her school report on the origin of the name Flinkwater has hit a dead end. And the e-reader version of Charlotte’s Web, which Ginger is in the midst of obsessively reading, has been hacked. When Mr. Rausch, a neuroprosthetics expert, uses his experimental memorization technique to help people remember information, Billy and Ginger wonder if it also causes other memories to be pushed out. As Ginger pursues every lead to solve these mysteries, her perspective on her world—one in which robots service every home, libraries with paper books have nearly disappeared, and new inventions are continuously surfacing—begins to change. Ginger’s escapades fill Hautman’s story with energy and humor while raising thought-provoking questions about technological advances. Ages 9–13. Agent: Jennifer Flannery, Flannery Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2016
Gr 3–5—Readers who enjoyed the first installment in this series, The Flinkwater Factor, will eagerly dive into the sequel. While there are references to the first volume, this also works as a stand-alone novel. The narrative starts with an epidemic of forgetfulness, which Ginger first notices in her father; he has forgotten their cat. Then Ginger sees it spread to her best friend (and love interest) and his father when they forget something more important: Ginger herself! Now Ginger has to sort through all kinds of unexpected obstacles to figure out what is happening to the people she cares about the most. At the same time that Ginger is furiously trying to solve the town of Flinkwater's forgetfulness, she is also thoughtfully pursuing a new interest in the printed word. In her near-future world, everything is electronic and only very old people still read printed books. One of her beloved ebooks (Charlotte's Web) gets a virus and becomes permanently corrupted. Will she ever find out what happens to Charlotte and Wilbur? The story is well written and engaging. Ginger's voice is convincingly that of a typical middle grade student dealing with forces outside her control. It's refreshing to see a young female character express anger and not apologize for it. Ginger's an easy character to root for, imperfections and all. VERDICT An entertaining journey with wry humor and a subtle encouragement of learning, electronic or otherwise. A solid purchase for larger collections.—Julie Zimmerman, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal

2016-06-01
In this sequel to The Flinkwater Factor (2015), Hautman returns to quirky Flinkwater for more technology-driven mysteries with spunky carrot-topped Ginger.Kicking off an e-book-vs.-print storyline, the white girl's homework assignment—finding how Flinkwater got its name—leads her to the computer-free library, where a controlling pair of white, evangelical caricatures (the preachy kind with a life-size, blue-eyed Jesus statue in their front yard) wishes to ban Charlotte's Web for its ungodly talking animals. Sassy Ginger gets involved and decides to read the book—but to the librarian's dismay, she opts for the electronic version. Later that night, Ginger discovers that every electronic version of the book has been hacked. To recover the book, she seeks help from her brainy best friend and boyfriend (and fiance, though he doesn't know it yet), but he doesn't remember her: it seems that a plague of memory lapses is following the use of a new memory and learning technology. But is it a side effect…or something sinister? Investigating the man behind the memory machine, Ginger gets into wacky animal adventures and peril. The storyline's climactic moment comes a bit too easily, but the surrounding story is good fun. Most characters (barring animal rescuer Myke, adopted from Africa) seem to be white. A lengthy denouement answers all remaining plot questions, tying the subplots together. A final section indicates the present-vs.-future status of the featured technology. Tightly plotted mysteries lightened with wacky, ludicrous humor. (Science fiction. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews