Go, Bot. Throw, Bot. Get in the boat and row, Bot! This has the feel of a classic, even though I'm not wild about the illustrations. A little girl gives simple rhyming commands to a robot until it feels ill-used and abandons the girl. She finds him and makes up for her dictatorial leanings by pushing Bot on the swing. A great early reader. ( )

In this easy reader graphic novel, we meet a young girl who builds a robot to help her play and work. However, they must learn to work together and share all the work that needs to be done. The story is primarily told through the cartoon illustrations, with an emphasis on facial expressions to depict emotion and build the plot. The illustrations incorporate single and multi page scenic cartoons, as well as multi panel pages. The text is limited to the dialogue between the two characters in the story and consists of short sentences or phrases. The text has a rhyming pattern and rhythmic cadence that will help beginning readers develop emerging literacy skills. The reading difficulty is indicative of lowest leveled early readers. This book is recommended for purchase by a public or school library as an unique combination of an early reader and a graphic novel. (Ages 3-5) ( )

A young girl finds a box of parts, puts them together to build a robot who then helps her sew, row, and mow until it is pushed to its limits. Colorful and texturized illustrations accompany very simple text in speech bubbles with one to four words in each sentence in this “comic reader” where the illustrations carry the load in telling the story. As part of the Step into Reading series, this is a Step 1, ready to read book, best suited for kindergartener readers or those who are just beginning to read. Although most words are just one syllable, several are not phonetically decodable like sew, mow, and glow, however the illustrations provide sufficient picture clues to assist the reader. Despite being quite a simple book with very limited text, the author gracefully works in a very important lesson for readers to not take things for granted and actions that can strain a friendship. ( )

Dana Meachen Rau’s use of highly simplistic, patterned language is the kind of text that beginning readers consume happily. Every page is a variation on the previous one, with few if any syntactic surprises. There is something to the rhythm of Robot, Go Bot! that might remind older readers of a modernized version of the old, “See Spot Run” series, but without feeling stiff and unnatural, thanks in part to Wook Jin Jung’s clear, comic book-like illustrations. Young children might also feel confident in using this as a read-aloud for any toddlers in their family, as the storyline and pictures would also appeal to that age group.
The story opens with a small girl building a square, friendly-looking robot. She
quickly realizes that the robot will perform any task she commands, and as soon as she discovers this power, she begins to abuse it. While our young female protagonist builds her demands for the robot, the robot becomes increasingly worn-out and resentful until that he just cannot go (Bot!) anymore. The solution the girl concocts is, like Robot, Go Bot!, simple and effective. Rau has sneakily included a lesson within this short tale, one that young children and their newly formed friendships might find useful. Children prone to bossyness will hopefully use this tale to reflect on their actions and create new ways to give their friends control and space. ( )

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