A Rover's Story
Jasmine Warga
A middle grade novel about the journey of a fictional Mars rover. Meet Resilience, a Mars rover determined to live up to his name. Res was built to explore Mars. more
320 pages, Hardcover
First published Balzer + Bray
4.31
Rating
4501
Ratings
906
Reviews
Jasmine Warga
11 books 2168 followers
Jasmine Warga is a writer from Cincinnati, Ohio who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She is the internationally bestselling author of My Heart and Other Black Holes and Here We Are Now. Her books have been published in over twenty-five countries and optioned for film. Her debut middle grade novel, Other Words For Home, will be published in Spring 2019. Jasmine lives in an apartment filled with books with her husband, two tiny daughters, large dog, and mischievous cat.**I am only on Goodreads when one of my publishers sets up a Q&A for me, so the best way to contact me is through my website: www.jasminewarga.com or on twitter: @jasminewarga. Thank you so much for reading my books!**
Community reviews
A Rover's StoryBy Jasmine WargaWow, just wow. First I want to clarify that this is marketed for middle grade but I believe teens and adults will enjoy this emotional, science fiction story. This book will stick in your hearts and minds long after reading it. The story revolves around a Mars rover while he is being built and all the way to Mars. It's dialogue to his"team" which is other robots. more
one thing about me is that i would die and kill for the mars rover. more
My 8 yr old son loved this so much he demanded I move it to the top of my reading list immediately so he could talk with me about it. Super cute. . more
Beeps and Boops, this was so precious. I loved how the author took real science and made it interesting and fresh. Seeing Res on Mars and exploring was cool and the reality of these missions was very interesting. I also liked following along with the human world through the letters. I thought it was incredibly creative. more
beeps and boops and now I’m crying over a fictional mars rover. more
Reread for a project. Cried even more at the ending than I did the first time. Beautiful book. . more
I arrived here because I cried at the Satellite music video and Lizzie (@reviewsshewrote) told me to read this, so I read it. And I cried at this too. Something about anthropomorphic stories, man. A human in a book is sad. Awww. more
Such a lovely, inspiring, heartfelt novel about a Mars rover named Resilience who has human emotions, and a little girl (who grows into an adult because this book takes place over the course of *many* years) who writes letters to the rover. There is so much pathos in this novel, so much hope and heart. I fell in love with this plucky, courageous robot and his companions (do you need to suspend your disbelief that a robot could develop human emotions. sure. but I bought into it and I loved it). more
Oh how I wish the publisher would include the author's note to the reader that is in the ARC. "Mama, do you think the robot is scared. " gets across the emotional depth of this novel. Love the dual perspective of Resilience and Sophie. Love story. more
This book was very sweet, and I think it is a perfect book for chapter book readers who love science. I did think the voice for Sophie in middle school felt a little younger than was correct for her age--especially as she was going into 8th grade, but that was such a small point of the story. I enjoyed this a lot. more
A Rover’s Story is a fresh, heartwarming middle grade sci-fi book about family, science, coding, and robots. It explores the power of human emotions and the fact that while there’s a time and place for logic, emotions add so much color to our lives. I’m not a huge fan of books from non-human perspectives, so I was hesitant to read this one, but the writing was so well done, and I found myself emotional at a few points throughout the story, so I definitely recommend this. Full review: https://readingmiddlegrade. com/a-rove. more
I really enjoyed this book. At first I wasn’t sure about it, it was out of my comfort zone. The best part of the story for me, was probably the ending. Overall I really love this story. more
Beeps and Boops I guess sentient robots really have a chokehold on my heart because between this, wall-e, and in the lives of puppets I have sobbed an ocean . more
Who knew that a book about a Mars Rover would make this grown woman cry. It’s a story about a rover named Resilience who tries to live up to its name, the scientists who made it, the red planet it explores, and it’s dearest friend, Fly, a drone. It’s full of nerdy sciencey goodness, humor, excitement and heart. It’s a little bit The One and Only Ivan meets The Wild Robot, so bring tissues. If you have kids who love space or science or engineering, this is the book for you. more
Richie’s Picks: A ROVER’S STORY by Jasmine Warga, HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, October 2022, 320p. , ISBN: 978-0-06-311392-1“But time will tell of stars that fellA million years ago”– Justin Hayward, “You Can Never Go Home” (1971)“Google (GOOG) has fired the engineer who claimed an unreleased AI system had become sentient, the company confirmed, saying he violated employment and data security policies. Blake Lemoine, a software engineer for Google, claimed that a conversation technology called LaMDA had reached a level of consciousness after exchanging thousands of messages with it. Google confirmed it had first put the engineer on leave in June. The company said it dismissed Lemoine’s ‘wholly unfounded’ claims only after reviewing them extensively. more
4. 5 StarsA Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga is a poignant and page-turning story of Resilience and Friendship for all ages (MG+). A Rover’s Story is the fictionalized story of a Mars rover named Resilience (“Res” is his nickname). As scientists assemble Res, he begins to experience human emotions. Resilience can understand human speech and begins to feel human emotions. more
I didn’t know my soul was going to be shattered by a robot. more
Wow. Who knew a book about a rover could make me have so many feelings. This book was amazing. It definitely sparked an interest in the Mars exploration program with all of the intriguing details about the rovers. But it also had a great human emotion side to it as well. more
"Thank you, Guardian. But you were the one who told me that rovers were not built to last forever. So, if you'll excuse me, I must make the time that I do have. worth it. " ResilienceI think I will be in the minority on this one but it just didn't tug at my heartstrings like it did for many others. more
4 ⭐A touching story about what it means to be alive. Told from the alternating points of view of Resilience, a Mars rover, and Sophie, daughter of one of the scientists working on the rovers, comes a journey of self discovery, friendship, and the possibilities of new knowledge. I enjoyed seeing through the eyes of a rover and growing up with Sophie over two decades. more
"Avoid dust. See stars. "Warga is best known for her middle grade verse novel "Other Words for Home", which is well written and which I highly recommend. This is in a totally different style, but is also wonderfully written. I picked up this book because it was nominated for Oregon Battle of the Books (I will be mutinous if it isn't selected. more
A bit of a slower read for me, but I ended up loving it. I really enjoyed how Jasmine Warga gave personalities to the Mars rover, Resilience and his companions Journey, Guardian and Fly as he embarks on and then completes his mission on Mars. It was a unique perspective to observe humans through the eyes of Resilience and to see his progress on Mars. I learned more about rovers and how they have advance our understanding of Mars. I also enjoyed getting to know Sophie, one of the scientists’ daughter through the letters she writes to Resilience throughout the book. more
A beautiful middle grade story about a fictional Mars Robot. You can help but smile, laugh, & cheer throughout. Resilience is not your typical robot. Resilience matches his name & will draw out real emotions in the reader. I loved this book. more
I love that this book made me more interested in NASA, space, & Mars. I absolutely adored Res, and Sophie. I am glad he proved to himself and others that sometimes human emotions are the things that make us stronger and not weaker. more
obsessed with this little rover and his team. I cried like a fucking baby. more
I don't typically read middle grade but this one looked cute as hell so I thought I would give it a shot. It is indeed cute as hell. more
So much to love about this book. We can start with the story's POV of the fictional Mars Rover Resilience (based on the real rovers Curiosity and Perseverance). Then comes the double storyline provided by letters written to the rover by the daughter of one of the scientists (a Muslim-American woman. REPRESENT. ) over the course of decades. more