Horn Book Review
A double-page, full-bleed illustration depicts a starlit highway in an industrial town. An inset frame focuses the readers attention on a truck. The truck hits a rock, the back door slides open, and a box falls out, bouncing until it lands (SPLOOSH!) in the river. A young girl then mirrors the boxs trajectory, wriggling out of the window of her trailer home, bouncing off the oil tank under the window, and landing dizzily on the ground. Wearing only a long white T-shirt, the little girl runs barefoot out of the trailer park, passing children getting on a school bus, and slips into the woods. There she finds a tool belt and a mysterious, very soggy box. Inside is an adorably uncoordinated robot, just the right height and temperament to be a companion. Unfortunately for the two of them and their burgeoning friendship, the warehouse notices that unit 00012 is missing, and a large, menacing robot with one red eye is sent to reclaim it. Unframed panel illustrations lend an expansive quality to this lively, mostly wordless graphic novel for younger readers. The absence of defined frames allows the watercolor to bleed out into the plentiful white space between panels, giving the girl and the robot space to move and even allowing the characters and dialogue to break the pattern in organic ways. And the roundedness of the frames corners, paired with the robots cylindrical body and the (brown-skinned) girls oval face, relieve the tension and add a sense of comfort for young readers. Well-plotted and -paced, this engaging story of loneliness, bravery, and friendship builds to a satisfying and sweet conclusion. sin gaetano (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Possibilities abound for a small, brown-skinned girl with time, a tool belt, and a penchant for urban adventure. From the imaginative creator of Zita the Spacegirl comes this techy take on a warm friendship born in a junkyard. The short, round-faced protagonist escapes from a window of her trailer home clad only in a white nightshirt and heads for a neighbor's swingset, then to the junkyardher daily routine, apparently. Unfettered and unsupervised by adults (or other humans), the protagonist dons her tool belt and soon discovers a little broken blue robot that has lost its way. Never at a loss for how to fix any machine, she tinkers with the robot, and suddenly, she has a running buddy. Together, they explore frogs, cats, sunsets, and more. But when the factory misses Little Robot and sends a large, scary-looking yellow robot to retrieve it, the main character needs more than a wrench to save her new friend and friendship. This delightful, nearly wordless graphic novel portrays a kid with gumption enough to take on big business and smarts enough to advise the factory's fix-it robot on repairs even though she just might be too young for kindergarten. Despite having little material means and few human connections, this kid creates life in the inanimate and fosters community where none could exist before. Girl power at its best. A sure winner! (Graphic novel. 3-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
