Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins
| Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Margaret Young
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| Summary: With a team full of the newest, latest, and most advanced robots to mind the house and the child - the parents in this story leave home asking What could possibly go wrong? In one word: everything! Robot Rumpus is an absolute riot of fun, that left my children giggling until they had tears in their eyes. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: July 2013 |
| Publisher: Andersen | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1849396288 | |
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My sons tore open the parcel with Robot Rumpus and were already reading it themselves before I could even get the tape from the rest of the box, so they had one up on me when we settled down to read it later as a family. We began looking through the robot models on the inside of the front of cover, and as I mentioned which ones I wish we could have, the boys were already laughing with a just wait and see look on their faces.
The story begins with a huge crate from the robot factory, two very happy looking parents away for an evening out, and a slightly more dubious young girl who will be staying at home with the her dog and the robots to look after them. There are seven robots in total, each programmed for a specific task such as cooking, cleaning, bathing and brushing teeth. Everything goes very well at first. The cook-bot makes spaghetti and meatballs, the clean- bot tidies up. The wash-bot runs a big bath full of bubbles and gets the girl into the tub. But this is were everything starts to go wrong. The child lifts a toy alligator from the shelf and lifts it down to play with. The robot's alarms go off at is shouts out Dangerous animal in the water !
But it doesn't seem to be programmed for a suitable response so instead it races about flapping its arms and blasting off alarms in complete panic reminding me of a quotation from childhood When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles , scream and shout. That seems to be just what the wash-bot is doing until it collides with the dress-bot, who ends up sitting on the teeth-bot's head. Each of the robots goes into a panicked emergency mode but each is programmed for only one thing. The dress-bot flings clothes everywhere - the teeth-bot brushes its own head while squirting toothpaste down the toilet. The cook-bot seems to determined to help as well, perhaps a tub full of spaghetti and meatballs will help? Meanwhile, the poor clean-bot looks ready for a nervous breakdown and I can completely empathise with her.
I can't say who enjoyed this story more, myself or the children. We were all in stitches and the children had tears streaming down their faces as they laughed so hard I can only be thankful they had been to the loo before story time. The story itself is brilliant, told in a delightful rhyming text. The pictures are perfectly matched, illustrating each scene so that a child could appreciate the story from the pictures alone. Ross Collins has really brought the whole story to life with his beautiful, colourful illustrations, certain to enchant any child. The expression on the parent's face as they come home is priceless. My son says this is the very best part, as he mimics the parents expressions and screams. I can't imagine any child who wouldn't enjoy this story, whether they like robots or not. It is simply one of the funniest children's books we have ever found. This is one of those books you just have to get completely involved in, using robotic voices and movements, crying out shrill alarms, and everyone joining in to shout out the parents scream of dismay. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Your children will love it. Your neighbours may not.
For more great fun we can recommend:
No-Bot, The Robot With No Bottom by Sue Hendra
Who's On First? by John Martz, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
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You can read more book reviews or buy Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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