Bookverdict.com

Gr 2–4—Once again Hatke delivers a delightful graphic novel with a positive female role-model, fun non-humans, and a message of friendship. When a brown-skinned cherubic girl chances upon a robot that looks like a trash can, she finds a friend worth protecting. Each day they explore the junkyard and the surrounding forest, with the little girl acting as a guide to new sights and concepts. Both love playing together, but when the robot wants to leave, things go downhill. It is ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

A double-page, full-bleed illustration depicts a starlit highway in an industrial town. An inset frame focuses the reader’s attention on a truck. The truck hits a rock, the back door slides open, and a box falls out, bouncing until it lands (“SPLOOSH!”) in the river. A young girl then mirrors the box’s trajectory, wriggling out of the window of her trailer home, bouncing off the oil tank under the window, and landing dizzily on the ground. Wearing only a long white T-shirt, the little girl runs barefoot out of the trailer park, passing child...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

A box falls out of a truck; a young girl wriggles out of the window of her trailer home and into the woods, where she finds a...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Ben Hatke is alert to the pleasures-and the complexities-of new friendship. Both the girl and the robot are spirited but sensitive, a combination that creates conflict early on. But the two are also brave and willing to put aside hurt feelings when the other is in danger. The story becomes a fast-paced adventure after a gargantuan retrieval bot is sent in pursuit of the eponymous little robot. As scenes cuts back ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More