Sara VaronBesprekingen

Gosh darnit, I cannot handle robot tears. this was by turns charming and sad. A surprising little book.

Una historia universal sobre la amistad, la pérdida y el perdón. Después de un espléndido día de playa, Robot se queda oxidado e inmóvil en la arena, y Perro, sin saber muy bien qué hacer, lo abandona allí. Con el tiempo, Perro intenta sustituirlo con nuevas amistades que acabará perdiendo, como una familia de patos migratorios y un muñeco de nieve que se derrite. Mientras tanto, Robot pasa los días soñando despierto, escapando a un lugar mejor...A través de sus vivencias entrecruzadas durante el paso de las estaciones, ambos personajes intentarán olvidar aquel día en la playa y superar su dolor.

ADORABLE.

It's not [b:Robot Dreams|41818|Robot Dreams (Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy)|Isaac Asimov|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309206791s/41818.jpg|1398365], but it's (pun alert) sweet. Mainly it's about a little cupcake, a baker with big dreams, who ultimately puts friendship first. I thought the ending was anti-climactic, but this will surely please anyone looking for baking ideas and recipes.

A dog builds a robot to be his friend. They are happy, until a trip to the beach results in their separation. The dog moves on to other friendships, but they don't last. Meanwhile, the robot just has his dreams to occupy him. Eventually, they both find happiness, but the ending is bittersweet.

This story is told with zero dialogue and only a few words. It will resonate with you if you've ever lost a friendship (whether it was your fault or theirs). It's simple enough for a kid to get, but the message is so profound that adults will like it too. The art is just wonderful with its soothing colors, clean lines, and delightful details.

Highly recommended!

This is really heartbreaking. Now I want a robot friend, especially one that "bakes delicious pies" and "tells good stories." It's one of those rare books where after reading it you can't wait to pass it along to someone else.

Theodora and Chad find that the odd friends are the best ones. Loved the illustrations and the little asides of text.

Cute story about two duck friends that appreciate each other's oddness and create a valuable friendship.

Just because it looks like a book, maybe you shouldn't read it like a book. It's a story with imaginative characters (a cupcake with a cherry for a hat who is best friends with a eggplant). It has a fun setting (a world where a chicken drumstick can walk a dog, a potato can play the drums, and a can of soda can order from a bakery). It just doesn't have much of a conflict or story. And the book just ends in an odd spot.

Maybe you should read it more like a Calvin & Hobbes story. There's no major story. It's just a bunch of adventures of a boy and his tiger. And this is a just a (small) bunch of adventures of a cupcake and his eggplant.

It's a cute read. I picked it up so that I could read it to my daughter but she ended up just reading the whole thing in the library while I was looking for books.

The book tells a story about cupcake having a passion for baking and want to make the best pastry. While, having a hobby for music and spending time with his friends. I think it's a good book because it show the cooking recipes and well drawn emotion from the character.

Independent Reading Level - Grade 3-7
Awards: Great Graphic Novels for Teens (2012)

A cupcake who works at a bakery and their eggplant friend dream of traveling to Turkey to visit Aunt Aubergine and her friend, famous pastry chef Turkish Delight. Cupcake begins to save money so they can go with Eggplant, but Eggplant loses their job before they can save up enough. Cupcake makes the difficult decision to sacrifice their own trip so Eggplant can go.

Back matter includes recipes for raspberry squares, brownies, vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, marzipan, and peppermint brownies.½

Quirky and cute.

I brought this home from the library to give to my 9 year old son to look at (read). Instead I sat down with him and we read it together. He cried so bad at the end. I was in shock of how it ended and didn't really know how to explain it to him. :( I would think by the fun graphics it would be appropriate for his age but I don't understand what he was suppose to get out of that. He felt so bad for the robot. I don't want to spoil it so I'll just say, the tear drops in the robot's eyes at the end of the book did him in. You look at the cover and leaf through the pages and say awe cute, looks like an adventure. NOT!

As another reviewer says "F*ck that dog. If I had a robot, I wouldn't abandon it on a beach and then forget about it. F*cking dog."

Theodora is a normal duck. She does her morning laps with a cup of tea on her head to maintain her posture, eats her duck food with mango salsa, reads books that haven’t been checked out from the library in years, and didn’t travel south for the winter with the other ducks, but there was nothing strange about all of that. Her new neighbor, Chad, however, is an odd duck. He is just not the kind of duck that she wants to spend time with. She looks forward to winter when he will fly south, but he doesn’t leave. During that winter, Theodora learns that she and Chad have a lot more in common that she would have guessed. When they get into a fight about who is the most odd, they decide that in spite of their oddness, they like each other just the way they are.

Odd Duck is a fun story with a great message. The illustrator includes a lot of side notes and comments to talk about what is happening, adding to the vocabulary that children can learn while reading the book. These little touches also add a lot of heart to the book. Readers can learn both not to say hurtful things, but also the bigger message of finding things in common instead of differences to make friendships. The message is not too didactic, and the fun duck characters feel real and relatable. The graphic novel, picture book hybrid with six short chapters is a great format for young readers or for read-aloud situations. This style can help those who want to read more advanced chapter books with illustrations, but aren’t ready for them yet. Readers will enjoy Theodora and how she learns that sometimes differences are a good thing.

*reviewed from uncorrected egalley* #netgalley

short graphic story (not quite a graphic novel and not quite a picture book?) for aspiring writers and artists, and fans of Sara Varon.

children's picture book (reviewed by uncorrected galley), ages 2-5
sweet rhyming text and Varon's winning illustrations emphasize staying close to loved ones and helping each other. Sometimes the instances when you'd hold hands are physically awkward (or maybe just look that way in Varon's cartoons) such as when getting into the car, across the table eating cheese, or when getting a goodnight kiss from your parent (I would keep my hands snugly under the blankets, but maybe my drafty house is colder than most), but they are certainly possible, for the most part.
I would like to see more differently-abled characters--a blind man on the bus, a kid in a wheelchair (not necessarily holding hands with anyone) incidentally included in the pictures. That would be nicer.

comic short stories, for fans of Sara Varon (including glimpses into her creative process).

*reviewed from uncorrected egalley*

children's graphic fiction with great vocabulary. Love this so much! How many times have I wished for a story about a donkey shoemaker? And capybaras, an anteater, sloth, and famous singing manatee? Sara Varon has provided everything and more.

children's graphic novel. Wordless story about instant friends torn apart by circumstance, i.e., the robot getting rusted after a day on the beach and the little dog not being able to get him back home again. Sad but sweet.

I got this on a lark from the library. Excellent artwork and a wonderful story without words. I love "reading" this to my daughter. Check it out.

Ajit