Review by Booklist Review
Sam is a robot aficionado. His room's filled with them posters to toys. He's also convinced robots really exist somewhere in space, which amuses his parents (even the pet parrot chimes in: Impossible!). Deciding he needs someone who understands him, Sam culls household objects vacuum, radio, rake, and so on and builds Franky, who becomes Sam's special, secret robot playmate and pal. When a spaceship actually arrives one night, filled with Franky-like robots, it brings excitement all around but also poignant good-byes, as Sam and Franky realize it's time Franky return home. With whimsical, humorous, and sweet touches, this will easily capture kids' fancies. Vivid, slick, animated illustrations have retro flair, incorporating both cartoonish and intricate, scrutiny-inviting details, from Sam's diverse robot collection to Franky, who's briefly disguised as a homemade cardboard-box creation. Timmers' narrative text is supported and supplemented by interspersed speech balloons with varying font sizes to lend emphasis, including for Franky, who speaks in inscrutable symbols. Blending a fantastic premise with a familiar tale of friendship, this entertaining story highlights the joys of imaginative play and companionship.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sam is certain that robots live "on a faraway planet"; unable to persuade his parents (or parrot) that this is true, he builds a robot buddy of his own. His raw materials include a canister vacuum, rake, swing-arm lamp, and vintage radio, so the robot's name, Franky, is more than a little suggestive of its patchwork, Frankensteinian origin. Timmers (Bang) includes midcentury details throughout, creating an atomic-age sense of wonder and excitement about robots and outer space: Franky talks in molecules, and his adventures with Sam include watching a b&w film strip about UFOs and sculpting a giant robot out of sand. When Sam is proven right, and a disc-shaped spaceship full of robots arrives on Earth, it's a wonderfully touching, E.T.-worthy moment as the friends realize they must part. Even more interesting, the extraterrestrial robots look exactly like Franky-rake arms, vacuum hose necks, radio heads, and all. On top of delivering a tender, funny friendship story, Timmers leaves readers with the impression that Sam's creativity and faith have allowed him to tap into a truth far bigger than himself. Ages 2-6. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Sam, a boy infatuated with robots, is driven by his desire to prove that robots live on another planet and are just waiting to visit Earth. The cartoon artwork draws readers into the story with vivid graphic design in retro hues, creating an atmosphere of toys from the past. The simple text is enhanced by illustrations that extend the story, filling the space with the strong passions of Sam and his collection of robots and all things space and science fiction. Dialogue is conveyed in colorful text bubbles, exposing both the story line and the emotions of the characters. Once Sam and his robot realize it is time for the robot to go "home," the blue background spread conveys their friendship in both speech bubbles with Sam mirroring the robot's dialogue (done in lines and circles), balanced on the adjacent page by a tear-filled hug between the two friends as they say goodbye. Smart use of white space, along with well-balanced placement of text and illustrations, offers a fun, robot-filled friendship tale. VERDICT This well-crafted picture book will appeal to all young inventors who just want to believe in the impossible.-Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI © Copyright 2016. 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
Young Sam believes that robots live "on a faraway planet"; frustrated that no one buys this, he secretly builds a robot, Franky, "who understands me." When a spaceship arrives to claim Franky, Sam's family finally realizes that he's right. This satisfying addition to the kid-knows-more-than-grownups picture-book genre has quirky, inspired visuals: e.g., Franky's dialogue balloons contain not words but molecule-reminiscent shapes. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Young Sam knows that robots live on their own planet in outer space. Timmers, a Belgian, gives colors of tooth-cracking radiance to his comical characters, setting them against fields of luminous white. Sam, a little dark-haired white boy, is nuts about robots. He thinks they live on a faraway planet. His family pooh-poohs him: "You watch too much TV, son," says his mother. Only the old radiothe kind that sort of looks like a robot's headagrees: "Everybody knows that!" So Sam sets about building a robot who will understand him, a wonderful contraption made out of a vacuum cleaner, garden tools, lamp stands, a fan, and guess what for a head? Eh voilFranky: Franky who plays robots with Sam, Franky who speaks in what looks like molecular models, Franky who is a barrel of fun until one day he stands looking out the window at the sky. That night, an army of Frankys arrives in a spaceship to take him home. One could mine this book for subtextsimaginary friends, the creator of life having to let it go, and the simple truth that extraterrestrial beings are made out of Electrolux canistersbut its surface qualities are equally, if not more than, adequate for high entertainment purposes. An imaginative and visual pleasure as well as confirmation that spaceships don't beep and blink but sound like spring cleaning. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
