SOLVED. YA Sci-Fi. Boy & Similar looking Robot but not identical. [s]

[NLab]

This was a book I most likely read in the mid to late 90's. I borrowed it from a school (or possibly teacher's) library somewhere between 5th and 8th grade, at a school in Texas in the US.

Unfortunately, I only remember a few general plot elements and one specific scene from the end of the book, which I will share after a break for a spoiler warning. I do not remember any details about the words in the title, the author, or even the cover of the book.

The book was about a boy (younger than a teen, IIRC) and a robot who looked similar to him but was not quite identical. The robot had different eyes and/or hair, and I believe wore some sort of specific "uniform." There was also a villain in the novel, though unfortunately I can't recall anything about what he was after or how the boy/robot got mixed up in things. I believe, but am not certain, that the story was set in a futuristic society, but I cannot recall if humanoid robots were commonplace or not.

I also believe that either the boy or the robot--or both--were interested in baseball, but I make no guarantees about that being accurate.

--Spoilers follow--





The scene I recall is the defeat of the villain. The boy gives at least some of his clothes to the robot, including a hat to disguise the robot's hair color and/or eyes from view. The robot then swam in a pool (vat?) of some sort of acid, which I believe the villain was threatening to put the boy in. Don't ask me how the clothes stayed intact. This tricked the villain into believing the pool was just filled with water, soon after which the villain either entered the pool or was pushed/tripped into it. I do distinctly remember the book describing the villain dissolving--though perhaps not too graphically--because I remember being surprised at something so gruesome happening in the story.

I've tried doing internet searches off permutations of details from this scene, but I had no luck.

If I come up with any other details I'll share them, but frankly outside of this one scene I'm not sure how much I trust my memory on any other details from the book. It's been over two decades.

Thank you all for any help you can offer!

[Ann]

This is definitely one of the My Robot Buddy books by Alfred Slote, but I can't remember which one and the reviews aren't helping. It's not the first one for sure, and I'm pretty sure it's not the second one, My Trip to Alpha 1. If I had to guess I'd say maybe book 3 C.O.L.A.R.: A Tale of Outer Space, but it could just as easily be book 4 or 5.

[NLab]

Hi Ann, thanks for the feedback. I'm reasonably certain this wasn't part of a series (and it'd be REALLY weird if I read a random book from the middle of a series, but I was young), but I'll definitely check into this and see if I'm wrong. Thank you for your help, I really do appreciate it!

Edit: Went ahead and ordered some used copies of the whole series. The series description sounds promising. I'll be sure to post if this turns out to be correct and, if so, which book it was that I've been remembering. Thanks again! If anyone else has any other suggestions in the interim, let me know.

[NLab]

SOLVED!

Thank you so much Ann!

You were right after all, it was book 4 of the series, Omega Station by Alfred Slote.

Not sure how I read book 4 of a series only, though to be fair to my young self the books aren't well marked that they're a series.

I really appreciate your help, thank you so much.

I did have a few details wrong, but given how long it's been I'm surprised I remembered as many details as I did. Glad I was accurate enough that you could help identify it!

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, NLab. Here's the link - Omega Station (Robot Buddy #4) by Alfred Slote.