Robot Dreams

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
2007

     Robot Dreams is an almost wordless graphic novel.  A dog receives a build-yourself robot in the mail.  After putting it together, the dog and the robot become inseparable, going to the library, watching movies and reading together.  On a trip to the beach, the robot is not quite sure about swimming in the ocean, but the dog convinces him.  They have a great time playing in the water, but once dried, the robot realized he's now unable to move.  Not quite sure what to do, the sad dog leaves his friend behind laying on the sand.  As the summer days end, and the beach closes for the season, the dog begins his quest for a new friend, still missing the robot and feeling guilty about what happened.  Meanwhile, the robot lays trapped on the beach, dreaming of freedom while being abused by the weather and other characters, eventually being dismembered and thrown out into a scrapyard.  A raccoon who was trying to fix a radio, uses the robot parts to complete his project.  Alive as a radio now, Robot sees his old friend outside his window, walking by with a new robot he has built.  Robot plays his music loudly and the dog unconsciously and unknowingly reconnects with his old friend as he walks away humming the song Robot has just played for him.
     Robot Dreams is one of the most surprising graphic novels I've ever read.  It's bright and cheery illustrations didn't prepare me for the depth of feelings it provoked.  There is friendship, loss and abandonment, longing, guilt and acceptance.   It's a really quick "read" but I guarantee you it will stay with you long after you've finished it.  Just wonderful!

Wendel's Workshop

Wendel's Workshop by Chris Riddell
2010

     Wendel the mouse was an inventor.  He was so busy trying out new inventions that he didn't have any time to tidy up his workshop.  Wendel decided he needed help so he created a robot, Clunk.  Clunk wasn't perfect, and after making a couple of mistakes, Wendel threw him down the rubbish chute.  He created another robot, Wendelbot, who started as a perfect robot, cleaning everything in his path.  But then, Wendelbot's obsession with tidiness made him start pulverizing Wendel's furniture and ended up throwing the poor  mouse down the chute.  Wendel found himself sorrounded by all the scrap he had discarded and found Clunk.  Wendel comes up with a plan and uses the scrap to create new robots that run into the house causing such a mess that Wendelbot short circuits and explodes.  At the end, Wendel learns to appreciate the little imperfections of his robot inventions.
     Wendel's Workshop will appeal to robot lovers.  It's written in British English, so I did have to explain some of the vocabulary to my four year old, but that didn't prevent him from really enjoying the entertaining story and the detailed illustrations. The little ones will want to go back and stare at the quirky robots.

Baby Brains and Robomom

Baby Brains and RoboMom by Simon James
2008

     Mr. and Mrs. Brains "were hoping for a clever baby." So while she was pregnant, Mrs. Brains did everything to help the cause: she ate lots of fish and nuts, placed headphones around her belly and played foreign languages for the baby.  When Baby Brains was born, he turned out to be smarter than they thought possible.  He loved playing on the computer and doing experiments. But "most of all, he loved designing new inventions."  He invented the first remote-controlled self-rocking cradle and a motorized stroller.  But even with all those inventions, his parents were still exhausted.  "Once, his mom even fell asleep during his bedtime story." -which just happened to be Hamlet.  Baby Brains decided to invent RoboMom to take care of the household chores.  At first, it looked like a great idea but when RoboMom starts acting strange and overworked and ends up washing the baby with the dirty dishes and hanging him out to dry on the clothesline, Baby Brain's had enough and cries for his mom.  She rescues him just before RoboMom explodes!
     Baby Brains and RoboMom is a entertaining tale.  The kids will enjoy the hilarious situations and the parents will enjoy the sense of humor and the exhausting reality of having a baby at home -genius or not! The watercolor illustrations are witty and full of interesting details that really add to story.  I wouldn't mind a version of RoboMom like the one Baby Brains designs at the end of the book.

Mama Robot

Mama Robot by Davide Cali
Illustrations by Anna Laura Cantone
Translated from Italian by Marcel Danesi
Voglio una mama-robot
2008

     His mom is always busy. Everyday he comes back from school to find the same note on the dinner table telling him to eat, brush his teeth, do his homework and clean his room. Boring! So he has a plan: he will build himself a Mama Robot. Mama Robot will never be busy and she will always have time for him. She'll protect him from scary dogs and bullies, she will cook only his favorite foods and never make "boiled cabbage, boiled fish, boiled chicken." Mama Robot will do his homework, let him stay up late to watch scary movies, and best of all "she will never yell at me" and she will "never be too busy to spend time with me." But, there is a problem, "how do you hug a robot mom?"
     Mama Robot is a delightful book. It's text flows with ease and the capitalization of specific words makes it easy to read aloud with the intended emphasis. The illustrations are fairly quirky and I loved the change in orientation that makes you have to flip the book in order to see some of the images. Mama Robot is great, but you still need a mom that knows how to cuddle.

Zoe and Robot: Let's Pretend

Zoe and Robot, Let's Pretend by Ryan Sias
Illustrated by Ryan Sias
2011

     Zoe wants to play with her Robot but there's a problem. As advanced as her robot is, there's one thing he lacks, imagination. No matter how hard he tries, Robot cannot pretend. Zoe wants him to imagine they're climbing Mt.Pillow, but all Robot sees are regular pillows. She wants him to pretend to feel the wind up in the mountains, but he knows it's just the fan. Eventually, Zoe finds a fun way of tricking him into truly believing he's climbing a mountain. But the highlight comes later when Robot describes a pillow as a fluffy cloud. That's when Robot celebrates, because now that he can pretend he feels like he can do anything.
     Zoe and Robot, Let's Pretend is presented in comic book form. The illustrations are colorful and offer plenty of picture clues for emergent readers. In my experience, this type of format is a great way of enticing reluctant readers to grab a book as well as to engage emergent readers. As per the topic of the story, I loved the idea of the human trying to teach the Robot how to pretend. We always think of having the ability to feel as the number one thing that differentiates us from artificial intelligence. But I now vote for imagination and the ability to pretend as the number one difference between us and Robot.

The Everything Machine

The Everything Machine by Matt Novak

Illustrated by Matt Novak

2009

     If you had a machine that would do everything for you, would you ever work? clean? mow your lawn?  

     Many years ago, the people of Planet Quirk received a machine as a gift from an alien.  The machine took care of everything around the planet, every job, task, hobby, everything. The people of Quirk completely forgot how to do anything around their planet...And then the machine broke.

     This quirky and entertaining book presents some interesting questions for young kids about the value of work and artistic expression.  It's a book with a very nice message that never gets too preachy.