FICTION

Robot Burp Head Smartypants!

by Annette SIMON
Robot Burp Head Smartypants! illus. by Annette Simon. 40p. Candlewick. 2014. RTE $16.99. ISBN 9780763665821. LC 2013943079.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—Adorable robots use motor oil to burp their way through recitations of the alphabet, a string of numbers, and "Old MacDonald." They crash and pause to hear the "Brrrrrp" of a passing baby. While the artwork is compelling and distinctive, the target age group for this book is more inclined to discover this process for themselves than to hear or read it in a book. Denise Fleming's rousing Shout! Shout It Out! (Holt, 2011) supports spirit with civility and Amy Dyckman's Boy + Bot (Knopf, 2012) is a clever celebration of robotics. Simon's book seems pointless and is a tremendous waste of beautiful illustrations.—Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
In this follow-up to Robot Zombie Frankenstein, two robots ingest some burp-inducing motor oil, and their counting--first by ones and later by tens--is punctuated accordingly. Readers will love the GI eruptions, but this seems like a cynical way to curry kids' interest in numbers. The bold geometric illustrations have airy white backdrops--a welcome respite in this loud offering.
Reviewed by Laura Scott , Mar 01, 2014

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