Robopop

by Alice Hemming, James Lent (Illustrator ), Maverick Arts Publishing (Publisher)

"I'm RO-BO-POP, your robot pa.
I'm the greatest dad by far.
I play golf and I wear ties.
I catch spiders, any size!"

Dylan and Daisy are embarrassed by their Dad's quirks, so he invents a robot to show his children that dads come in all shapes and sizes and definitely do not come out of a box!

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2015

About the author

Alice Hemming is the author of over fifty books for children, including the bestselling Dark Unicorns series (Scholastic), and picture book, The Leaf Thief with illustrator Nicola Slater (Scholastic 2020), which has sold across the world and been translated into nineteen languages. Alice lives in Hertfordshire, UK with her husband and two children, and works in a writing shed at the top of her garden.

Reviews

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dylan and Daisy are embarrassed about their dad, they do not think he is a normal dad. Dad replaces himself with a robot and it's fun at first but then they realise it's much better with their real dad. A nice story to breakdown stereotypes of dads and family types. A fun read-aloud story, however, I don't think it is the most engaging book.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robopop is a great book for demonstrating to children that we are all different and that the cookie-cutter alternative to personalities is not always the most attractive. Written by Alice Hemming and illustrated by James Lent, it tells the story of Dylan and Daisy, embarrassed by their dad's inability to fall into one of the 'Dad' archetypes. He's an inventor and so seeks to show his offspring that 'Dads don't come in a box' by showing them the most extreme version of the alternative: Robopop – a metal rhyming automaton with no sense of social rules or limits. Daisy and Dylan soon realise that the dad that they already had was the best. The illustrations are humorous and the details are fun to pick out; the real Dad has his eye on Daisy and Dylan the whole time, but can your little ones spot him in the crowds? A great fun bedtime book, one which made my four year old ask if we can build a robot to play football with tomorrow. Oh dear...

[D.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following on from Alice Hemming's first book - The Black and White Club - with its themes of 'you are okay just as you are' comes her second book Robopop. I was pleased to see that the overall message remains the same although this time the focus is on a parent and the children having to learn the 'okay' message about their parent. The illustrations are perfectly matched to the tone of the narrative; concise and colourful. I feel that Robopop is suitable for all readers, and I would highly recommend this book for children with additional learning differences such as dyslexia and visual stress.

I was given this book to read and review in my capacity as a Patron of Reading.