Lots of fun... for a naive child. I would have liked these when I was eight. Sort of - the first one had too much history in it, and even as a child I did not like stories about the French revolution, etc. The villain in the second is odd; maybe if I knew his backstory he would have made more sense. But it's a neat story anyway.

So, yeah, what the hey, if I run across more Norby at a thrift store or whatever, I'll read 'em. But I won't recommend them. Even to kids - there's a lot more awesome SF for kids nowadays. Iirc, the only juv. genre SF that is old like this that I would recommend would be stuff by [a:William Sleator|14004|William Sleator|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206554364p2/14004.jpg].

... very mild spoilers below, not worth hiding imo but if you're terrifically fussy stop reading now...

The thing that always has frustrated me, since I started to love books five decades ago, is a *wrong* cover. If it's abstract, fine. But if it looks like a scene from the book, dammit, it better be accurate! And this is not. The necklace doesn't look anything like the one in the story, which is pretty and has diamonds and, plot point!, has tassels, not a clasp. And that green cat, Oola, is only in the other story... though she must be in previous Norby books and I'd like to get to know her better.
..... ( )

This YA series about Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot, was one of my favorite reads as a child, not to mention my introduction to Isaac Asimov (even if Janet actually did do all the writing). Occasionally, I come upon paperback versions in used bookstores that collect two of them together, and I snatch them up instantly. This one collects Norby and the Queen's Necklace (what I remembered as my favorite) and Norby Finds a Villain. It's excellent YA literature, with a decent breadth of imagination on display in just these two stories. Jeff and Norby and a variety of other characters find themselves in the near future, pre-Revolutionary France, Roman times, prehistoric times, far-future utopias, far-future dystopias, hyperspace, aberrant future versions of Mars, and dangerous alternate realities just within the confines of these two short tales! Norby himself is as fun as ever, and the supporting cast doesn't disappoint. The Queen's Necklace isn't quite as good as I remember (not all of the temporal shenanigans actually work out in the end), but it's solid fun, as is Finds a Villain. (originally written December 2007)