Little E

After an argument with a friend seen on the title page, a little boy decides to play with his robot instead. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to operate it. With help from an adult, the robot is powered on, and the little boy is can climb inside and walk around. When it almost immediately breaks, the boy goes back to the adult, who turns out to be a robot itself, with the boy's friend riding inside. The boys make up, fix the robot together, and run off to play. Both boys and the adult are white. The plot itself is nonsensical; younger children may be excited to discover that the adult is really a robot, while older children may wonder how the boy knew this, and why the friend must get out of the robot to help him now when earlier he presumably helped from inside the robot. The sketched illustrations include a lot of beige background, but the details of the robot itself are imaginative and quirky. VERDICT An additional purchase that will leave readers with questions; purchase where maker spaces and robots are popular.

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