Brobot

One book - two stories! I think the second bonus story 'Sally-Mander' should be mentioned on the cover - and an eye-catching cover it is! I'm sure it would grab the attention of both boys and girls especially with the main character's name being S. Tinker (stinker!).

Yay for inventing a robot that can do the cleaning! Baby Joe (with a consistently dirty, smelly nappy) didn't seem to mind being cleaned up by BROBOT!

The illustrations in this book are particularly clever with lots of colour, detail and labelling. The different size and shape of the font used adds to the excitement of the story. The facial expressions on the characters make them very amusing (especially poor Joe!). There are minimal words on each page so reluctant readers (or readers ready to move up from picture books) will find this book easy and fun to engage with.

Some of the vocabulary is a bit challenging (even for this reviewer!) eg. gyroscope: a rotating device used to keep navigation instruments steady. Or, calamitron: particles that appear after anyone or anything from one universe comes to another. There's always some learning to do!

There are hidden messages/jokes that will make you giggle but I did find the small, white print on the pale green background quite hard to read.

Yes, baby brothers can be: noisy, sticky, smelly and always breaking things but ultimately they are irreplaceable!

There are teaching notes and activity sheets on the Freemantle Press website.

In the bonus story, graphic novel 'Sally-Mander', Sally Tinker has invented a Space-Time INstantaneous Conveyer Engine ('STINC Engine' for short). It's a time machine and it takes Sally, her friends, and baby brother Joe to medieval Europe in the year 1314. They come across a fire salamander (yes they are a real amphibian!) that leads them on their dangerous adventure where they meet Sally's ancestor, who was a mean princess. There are knights protecting the princess and they can be a bit scary (one knight nearly chopping Rav's head off!) but also very amusing (trying to catch Solomon the salamander!). Sally always seems to have problems but overcomes them and lives to tell another tale.

This is an easy, quick read with colourful, amusing illustrations and funny text. A part I particularly liked was when the princess said, "Then admit it, you sassy salamander-napper. Do you know what happens to people who threaten my shnookums?"

A recommended read for 7 to 9 year old children.