Review by Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 2. Humor culled from the scrap heap and the hardware store is the dominant theme of this tongue-in-cheek look at the secret lives of robots by two newcomers to children's books. Couplets march right along (I see robots everywhere. / With metal shoes / and springs for hair ), accompanied by scenes of androids going about their business: shopping at Bolts \lquote R' Us, plying infants with baby oil for their sensitive tin, getting rusty at the beach. It's impossible to resist the googly-eyed robots; each one is bolted together from junkyard cast-offs and imbued with a mix of Futurama goofiness and C-3PO charm. Sturdy pages, appealing characters, and just a few words per spread make this a good bet for toddlers. Older children will enjoy the amusing parallels between the robots' world and our own. The ending (a child sleeps surrounded by--you guessed it--toy robots) is a bit shopworn, but the preceding laughs are hearty all the same. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Author and illustrator both make their children's book debuts in this mildly funny look at the land of robots. They pair rhyming couplets with scenes of androids engaged in human activities (watching a movie in a theater, riding a bus, sitting in a classroom). Some of the verse has pizzazz (among the robots' pastimes are "Buying stuff at Bolts `R' Us" and "rusting down at Robot Beach"), yet the book's loopy comedy derives primarily from the particulars of Hoffman's full-spread cartoon illustrations. At the movies, robots with "springs for hair" snack on ball bearings and sip "coila," while one sports an "I Lug NY" T-shirt; a birthday cake features the greeting, "Happy Boltday"; at mealtime, a jar of "nuts" (as in nuts and bolts) on the table advertises "more iron!"; and a barber dries hair with a blow torch. The text's opening line "I see robots everywhere" is also its last line, where it accompanies a picture that explains the preceding oddball images: a youngster is shown sound asleep, clutching toy robots, while androids grace a poster on the bedroom wall, a light switch and even his pajamas. A well-oiled excursion to a quirky and, yes, irony-rich world. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Through offbeat humor and a simple rhyming text Hebson tells of a young boy's obsession with robots: "I see robots everywhere./With metal shoes/and springs for hair." From buying items at "Bolts `R' Us," such as "Uncle Jon's Baby Oil for Sensitive Tin," to getting their hair done with a blowtorch and metal file, these machines are seen living their day-to-day lives much like the rest of us. The ink-on-watercolor paper illustrations depict friendly looking robots of various ages riding the bus, attending android school, and eating ball bearings while at the movies. Much of the humor comes from the pictures, which are done in warm pastel colors, and children will enjoy looking them over to find the amusing details.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A brief rhyming text (""Robots riding on the bus. / Buying stuff at Bolts 'R' Us"") serves mainly as a vehicle for the accompanying images depicting android kids in school, robotic teens with spiked hair and piercings, and metal men who have rusted at the beach. At book's end, we learn that this world is a product of a young boy's dream. This single-joke volume is slight but amusing. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Here the world goes not to the dogs, but to the tin folk, as a delighted young narrator sees them everywhere: "Robots riding on the bus. / Buying stuff at Bolts 'R' Us. / Playing catch with sewer grates. / Eating nuts off metal plates." Hoffman fills each scene with daffy-looking, popeyed, can-headed mechanicals, at home, work, and play--then adds gleeful sight gags, like moviegoers chowing down on vats of ball bearings, or a "Bless This Ohm" wall sampler. There's plenty of "clank," without a trace of "clunk" in this rib-tickling double debut; readers, too, will be riveted. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
