Written by Ame Dyckman
Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
For Day 11 of 30 Books of Kindness, we decided to read Boy + Bot. This book shares the simple story of friendship where a boy meets a robot, and they become friends. When Bot is accidentally shut off, Boy tries to take care of the Bot as if he was a little boy, instead of a robot. Then Boy falls asleep, and Bot thinks the boy has malfunctioned. So then he tries to take care of the Boy the way an inventor would fix a robot. In the end, they realize that even though they are very different and need to be cared for in different ways, they can still be the best of friends.
I found out about this book after I started following the author on Twitter. Everything she Tweeted was so funny, that when I saw she had a children's book, I took the leap of faith that the book would be equally amusing. So, I (ahem....actually the Easter Bunny) ordered the book to add to the girls' Easter baskets. And guess what, my intuitions served me well- this book is delightful.
Why? It is simple. And sometimes, simplicity is the best way to captivate a weary child at the end of the day. The illustrations are interesting and engaging. The colors capture your attention. I love Dan Yaccarino's work, and we love his Nick Jr. show Oswald. And there are few words, but the few words that are on the page say a lot. So the message translates well for the smallest of readers.
Why else is it wonderful? It is this great story of friendship. You find out that even if you are completely different from someone else you can still be kind to them and end up being best of friends.
Finally, it is the perfect excuse to practice our awesome robot voices when reading the book. Sadly, though, my daughter continued to read the rest of the books tonight in a robot voice. It works really well for Boy + Bot, but robot voices sound pretty silly when reading Guess How Much I Love You.
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