Literary Coffee

A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

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Five out of Five Magical Coffee Cups

If you watched the Mars rover landing, this might be the book for you.  If you think about Opportunity’s last message to Earth as the dust storm covered their solar panels, this might be the book for you.  If you liked the movie Wall-E, this might be the book for you.

Resilience (Res) is a Mars rover preparing for a mission to Mars.  Res starts developing human emotions and thoughts while being built and programmed.  This is where I got the Wall-E vibes.  He is very curious about the world around him. He wants to do a good job and make the Scientists proud. We follow Res from the lab as he is being programmed and tested, the ship as he travels through space, and to the harsh landscape of Mars. We experience all the fears and excitement right along the way. Res is working hard with the help of a few others: a drone and a satellite. He wants to do the best job, even though he is sometimes scared. He is such a hard worker! You can’t help but root for this fantastic little guy and his companions!

I never imagined I would be so emotionally invested in a rover. But who am I kidding? I knew from the start that I would love this rover.  Beeps and Boops, this book had me crying.

Random fact! I signed up on the NASA website to have my name added to the Mars rover.  It’s easy to do! I know my name is lost amongst all other names, but it’s still awesome to think about how my name is on Mars! You can sign up for the next mission here! NASA NAME is not taking names at the time of this blog posting but keep checking!