  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 08/01/2015 A tousle-haired little boy is helping his three robot friends get ready for bed: “Brush your rotors ’round and ’round. / Clean your shields . . . and power down.” After some sudsy, puddly high jinks in the bathroom, everyone is settled in for the night—the boy in a bed, the robots on a tiny metal bunk. But just when it seems everyone is asleep, the robots wake the boy with a boisterous “BEEP! BEEP!” and a litany of tiny complaints. Over and over again, the robots wake him with more requests until, finally, they ask for a story, which puts the boy to sleep. Parents will recognize this familiar bedtime routine, and little ones will chuckle over the cheery, toddlerlike robots’ antics. Rocco’s luminous illustrations are rich with glowing lights, lifelike depth, and saturated color, and his retro-futuristic robots are alive with vivid expressiveness. Tarpley’s lilting couplets are a joy to read aloud, and the repeated interrupted refrain of “three little robots are . . . ” will surely delight kiddos listening in. - Copyright 2015 Booklist. School Library Journal - 09/01/2015 PreS-Gr 1—A boy tries desperately to get his three robots to sleep. He leads them into the bathroom for rotor brushing and shield cleaning and finally settles them and himself into bed. But just as the snappy rhyming text suggests the robots are fast asleep, a page turn repeatedly indicates otherwise. "BEEP! BEEP!" bleep the robots as they report "sensor aches," the need for a light and more oil and a coil, and problems with a loose belt or tight bolt. Finally, in utter frustration, the boy issues an ultimatum: "No more blipping!/Blinking-boinking!/Winking-whirring!/Squinking-oinking!" Of course, they ignore him with a last request: "a bedtime story." Then no more sounds ensue, for the robots have "finally put/their boy to sleep." The illustrations, created with pencil, watercolor, and digital paint, greatly extend the text. The chaotic bathroom spread shows a robot entangled in toilet tissue as another overflows the sink with bubbles and toothpaste and a third sprays water well beyond the bathtub. The boy first rests with a wary eye on the troublemakers, yawns in hopeful anticipation of quiet, and finally lies spread-eagled in exhaustion. Alert readers will notice that a mouse, which has its own bed in the room, joins in the antics from start to finish. VERDICT A delightful tale of bedtime role-reversal that sharp youngsters will appreciate.—Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Greenwich, CT - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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