Ben Hatke
My rating: ★★★★
ISBN: 978-1626720800
Publisher: First Second
Date of publication: September 1, 2015
Age: Grades 1 - 4
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Themes: friendship, robots, STEM
When a little girl finds an adorable robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend. But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy, and it's all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!
This is just an all around good book. There's so many small details to appreciate, as well as the story as a whole. For instance, the text is sparse, with the art acting as the main story-teller. The girl is the only character that actually talks (the robots all make nice-for-reading-aloud robot noises). And then there's details like this:
This emphasizes the simple art-filled, minimal-text feel of the book. I love it. So, on the whole, it makes a great book for kids of all ages—reader and non-reader, alike.
As for the actual story, I really appreciated the lesson it has in friendship. The little girl is obviously pretty lonely, and with this new robot friend, is trying to navigate the difficulties of balancing what she wants with the needs/wants of the robot. Plus, don't forget, there's evil robots to contend with, adding a classic good vs. evil subplot to the book.
The lack of fifth star was due to little bits and pieces that I didn't understand/appreciate. But really, I'd still recommend it. I think it'd even be an awesome classroom study, because there's so much to infer in the story and lessons to learn about friendship. A great graphic novel for the younger crowd. Try it out.
Find it at your library or on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment