WELCOME TO A WORLD OF ROCKIN’ ROBOTS
Robots are having a moment in children’s literature, which seems fitting in an increasingly digital world. Eliot Schrefer looks at four new kids’ books full of bits and bytes and beeps and boops.
BITTY BOT Written by Tim McCanna, illustrated by Tad Carpenter Paula Wiseman Books, 32 pp., ages 4-8
All the robots in Botsburg are asleep — except one. “What’s that noise in tower three? / Who in Botsburg could it be? / Bitty Bot with power tools! / Breaking all the bedtime rules.” And for good reason, too: He’s building a rocket ship to the moon! Soon Bitty Bot is partying with space aliens — until his batteries wind down and it’s time to return home to sleep. Though McCanna’s rhymes don’t have the joy in language of the best children’s verse, they add a nice shape to the story ( out of four). Carpenter’s palette of blues and purples and greens conjures a vivid and unusual world of nighttime technology. Even if the vapidly smiling Bitty Bot stops short of being fully endearing, the book’s storyline will be a hit with kids and parents alike. All little ones need to go to bed eventually, but kids needn’t feel shame for the excitement that has made them so restless.
THE WILD ROBOT Written and illustrated by Peter Brown Little, Brown, 279 pp., ages 8-12
Mining similar territory to
Little Bot and Sparrow is Peter Brown’s poignant, incandescent novel for young readers ( Robot Roz wakes up on a remote island, knowing little of where she came from or where she is. As she explores her strange and savage new world, she comes to care for an orphaned gosling — and with that bond, she stops being an outsider and becomes part of the island’s wild community. This is Brown’s middle-grade debut, after an acclaimed run as a picture book writer/illustrator. He brings both of those talents to this novel, and his occasional black-and-white illustrations add warmth and complexity to the elegant text. This is a moving, subtle and lyrical tale that’s likely to become a modern classic.