Robot Dreams
by Sara Varon (Author) Sara Varon (Illustrator)
In this universal story of friendship, loss, and redemption, a dog and a robot become friends. But their days of friendship are numbered.
This moving, charming graphic novel about a dog and a robot shows us in poignant detail how powerful and fragile relationships are. After a Labor Day jaunt to the beach leaves the robot rusted, immobilized in the sand, the dog must return alone to the life they shared. But the memory of their friendship lingers, and as the seasons pass, the dog tries to fill the emotional void left by the loss of his closest friend, making and losing a series of friends, from a melting snowman to epicurean anteaters. But for the robot, lying rusting on the beach, the only relief from loneliness is in dreams.
Locate at a Library Near You WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Find books about:
Publishers Weekly
Robots, ducks, melting snowmen and other mute creatures, all rendered in sweet and simple drawings, go through some very big, very human ordeals in Varon's (Chicken and Cat) elegiac and lovely graphic novel about friendship. Dog buys a build-your-own-robot kit and assembles a new best friend for himself. But a day at the beach leaves Robot's joints rusted and immobile, and Dog is obliged to abandon him there. While Dog spends the next year trying to fill the hole in his life left by Robot-and assuage his guilt-Robot lies inert on the beach, dreaming of rescue and escape. Dog's episodic stories are particularly poignant in the way they mirror the human tendency to "try things out" in the hopes of meeting some emotional need; Robot is an avatar for all children who wonder why they aren't receiving the love they think they deserve. In a conclusion both powerful and original, Robot ends up reworked into a radio by a raccoon grateful for the music, and forgives Dog, even if Dog doesn't realize it; for once characters don't have to wind up back together to find happiness. Tender, funny and wise. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 2007 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
School Library Journal
Dog is overjoyed with his newly created robot, until their beach vacation. A rusty robot can't walk, so Dog must abandon him. As months pass, Robot dreams of rescue, while Dog tries to both retrieve and replace him. A bittersweet ending and winsome caricatures convey the joy and pain of friendship.
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
Sara Varon is a graphic novelist and children's book author/illustrator living in Chicago. She is the author of Robot Dreams, which has been adapted into an Oscar-nominated animated feature film. Her other books include Odd Duck, Bake Sale, New Shoes, Hold Hands, My Pencil and Me, and the Detective Sweet Pea series. Her work has received many accolades--among others, Hold Hands was named a Best Children's Book of 2019 by the New York Times; Odd Duck was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Children's Books of 2013; Bake Sale was chosen as a YALSA Great Graphic Novel of 2012; and Robot Dreams was on Oprah's Kids' Reading List in 2008. In 2013, Sara was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship.
saravaron.com
JUV008000 - Juvenile Fiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | General
