Steam

Gr 9 Up–From a university research lab, a prototype artificial human goes on a walkabout and winds up an employee of a campus coffee shop named Steam. Ruby, the distinctly personable and human-appearing being, is a fitting addition to this highly credible urban café where the clientele ranges from swoon-worthy Comic Book Girl to harmless but egregiously carefree Man with No Pants (he does wear briefs). The staff works under the grumpy direction of Steam’s owner-manager, their interactions with customers, each other, and the manager all recognizable by anyone who works in direct public service. The lab, of course, seeks Ruby’s return and takes a duplicitous route to retrieve her even as she is trying to understand the nature of love and figure out how to fix everyone’s practical problems. Steam’s staff and patrons pay off her good intentions by mounting a hilarious plan to free her from the lab. There is a sweet LGBTQIA+ understory of the crush carried by a Steam worker for her not-quite-human soulmate. Garrity’s storytelling is hilarious and spot-on in its realistic and imaginative details, while Holden’s depiction of the shop and cast that is moderately diverse ethnically while being highly diverse in age, goofiness, and expressiveness keeps up beautifully.