Hello, Robots

this is a great book, very funny. my three year old loves it, and my husband and i still like it after reading it to him a million times. :) we all giggle and laugh, it is a fun read w/ nice illustrations.

This book about (robots doing) different jobs in/around the house plays out like a fun memory/matching game. The repetition of household chores and amazing use of color and shape propel the story. Done digitally, these illustrations should be the basis of a Design 101 class.

We took this book out of the library and my nearly-three-year-old twins immediately took to it and began demanding repeated readings. The book has a great combination of simple rhymes that carry along the reader enthusiastically; bold graphics in red, blue, green, and yellow (one robot in each color); and lots of familiar objects (tea cups, cookies, tv's). I don't even mind reading it over and over, because the drawings are fun and the rhyming is too.

This book would be a wonderful read-aloud to a class of kindergartners or first graders. The illustrations are bright and evocative, and the text is mnemonic and fun. It takes us through a 'typical' day with a group of robot friends performing their specialized duties. Uh-oh, it starts to rain and the wet robots short circuit, confusing tasks, for "When it comes to robot brains, nothing's worse for them than rain." They start fuddling up their work and decide they need to switch their heads, so they pop them off and trade them. All ends well for the mixed-up group, proving that teamwork and flexibility are key to getting things done right. There's a lot a teacher/parent could do with this book to inspire children's creativity: making colorful robot collages, designing robots for specialized functions, or creating 'mixups' with heads and bodies of different creatures/machines. What fun!