Kelly, Erin Entrada. Second Life of Snap, The. HarperCollins / Greenwillow, 05/2026. 176pp. Fiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-0634-8595-2. GRADES 4–7. OUTSTANDING.
Two-time Newbery Award winner Erin Entrada Kelly continues her science fiction streak in this tale of twelve-year-old Susannah “Zuzu” Santos, who spends every evening running around with her friends, the Valleycats. Her postapocalyptic world has divided humans into “Bounties,” the privileged elite who live luxuriously in a walled city called Bountiful, and “Dusties” like Zuzu and her father, who scramble for survival outside the city. When her father arrives home one night having lost his job but gained a guardian robot as his severance package, Zuzu at first rejects the robot as a symbol of the rich. But once her friend Elias adds some special programming, the robot Snap gradually reveals a unique ability to feel friendship. Because his charger arrived broken, however, Snap will reboot to factory settings when he eventually runs out of power, thereby losing the personality that’s won over Zuzu and the Valleycats. Kelly effectively uses this plot point to build suspense throughout the novel, tracking Snap’s draining battery life chapter by chapter. Though a quick read, this story packs an emotional wallop with stakes that feel real, plus a timely exploration of both AI integration and resource conservation. Zuzu and her father are Filipino; her group of friends is also racially diverse.
Kristin Shaw-Hall—Belvedere Tiburon Library