ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK - CYBEROSIA (2003)

€12.95 (In Stock)

ENGLISH BOOK

TRADE PAPERBACK

Rosemary's Backpack has giant robots, a talking backpack, a dastardly villain, humor and intrigue. Everything that writer Antony Johnston hopes kids will love.

Rosemary Grant is a normal fourteen-year-old computer geek; shy, introverted, with no time for anything other than hacking and schoolwork. But one morning, Rosemary's life is turned upside-down when she literally runs into a stranger, who switches her school backpack for one he's carrying. And this one talks! Rosemary becomes a reluctant heroine who finds out that she's braver than she thinks when there's something worth standing up for.

Pursued by the villain, General Falco, who will stop at nothing to regain control of the backpack, Rosemary must find a way to escape his clutches with the help of her street-smart best friend C-Moss. And then of course there's the smart-talking, bigheaded, artificially-intelligent backpack himself, who goes by the name of Pablo. Can the three of them unite to save the day?

Johnston and Gilbert have created an all-ages tale that Johnston refers to as a 'Saturday morning cartoon'. Told at a breakneck pace, both creators found it challenging to fit all the action in, and balance it out with quieter moments. The two creators make a formidable team. "I found working with Drew extremely rewarding" says Johnston. "He's an awesome talent, and from the minute I saw his art I wanted him to draw Rosemary's Backpack. It's just been fun all round."

Previously known for the IPPY award-winning illustrated horror novel Frightening Curves (Cyberosia Publishing), Rosemary's Backpack is something of a change of pace for Johnston, and he regards it as a positive one. "I'm happy that I've written something which is exciting for, and can be read by, kids. I don't have any myself, and I know not much of what I do is suitable for children. But I do have a godson, and writing something which he can safely read makes me happy. I was partly inspired by the fact that in the sort of dance clubs I go to, everyone wears backpacks (because you can keep all your stuff with you and still dance, of course). Some of it was just wanting to do a kid's adventure story — something in which the kids are right, the grown-ups are wrong, and everyone knows it. And finally, it all fell into place after I first visited New York in 
early 1999. New York has been a destination city for practically its entire existence, so it just made sense that here is where anyone with the sort of problems Rosemary has would go. That, and the fact that I fell in love with the place very quickly. Besides — who wouldn't want to see giant robots storming through Times Square?"

The setting is New Haven, Connecticut. A fairly quiet town — certainly not the sort of place you'd expect an adventure like this to start. And we meet Rosemary, our heroine, as she prepares for school — normally her mom would drive her in, but the car is in for repairs so she decides to rollerblade instead. That small decision will lead to bigger changes in Rosemary's life than she could possibly imagine ....