Can You Find My Robot's Arm?

by Chihiro Takeuchi

One morning, poor robot wakes up to find he is missing an arm. He and his robot friend search inside and outside the house, through a garden, an amusement park, a library and even a candy shop, but it’s nowhere to be found. Where can the arm be, and what might make a suitable replacement?

Genres: Picture Books, Robots, Childrens, Storytime, Science Fiction, Art, Fiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Chihuro Takeuchi is a renowned cut-paper artist and the creator of several books. Colors is her third children’s book in English. She lives in Osaka, Japan.

Reviews

[Shoa Khan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty pointless picture book about the search for a robot's arm, being undertaken by another robot!
They look kind of cute though!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robot woke up one morning and found out his arm was missing. They couldn't find it anywhere, so they tried many substitutes. But nothing seems to work. Not a fork, or a branch, or a fish bone, or a pencil, or a broom, or an umbrella. Where could the robot's arm be?

The story is cute, but the best thing about this book is the artwork. All done in black silhouette, despite being simple, it has many details to look at. This is an example:



And another one:



A really enjoyable option.
Age range: 3 to 6 years old.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out more Picture book reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

A robot loses his arm and the little mini robot that takes care of him gets the readers help to find it.

I am very blessed to be in the position of being able to relate what the target audience may think about the book. My nephew and I started reading story books together earlier this year. At first only 2 or 3 a week and now we read one almost 5 days a week and he does a drawing of his own from one of the artists drawings. This creates an environment where we talk about what he enjoyed in the book and which pictures struck a chord with him.

The words were simple and repetitive. The story is at its most basic. My nephew liked that there weren't any words he didn't know once we read the first couple pages. Sometimes he gets frustrated when there are too many words he doesn't know. If a younger child read this book it reinforces the words being used very well and as you travel to different locations you can teach other words not in the book, like amusement park. This is definitely a book about the illustrations. Still at the end of the book my nephew loved that we got to learn where the arm really was!! He just thought that was so funny and delightful it's located in the dog house!

The technique to make the illustrations was quite wonderful as we take this paper-cut journey through home, garden, library, amusement park, aquarium, workshops and the big city. Not one of these places was of lesser quality than the others. We read the book digitally but I felt like I would love this to be a large board book of the variety for very young readers. I feel like regular paper pages would easily get torn from the child pouring over the illustrations so much. A board book suits the blocks of color that frame the words too.

My nephew can speed through a book quite swiftly if he's rather uninterested in the drawings but this one we talked about quite a few of the locations and what the stark black and white lines were representative of in the real world! He chose the amusement park to draw as it had many of the elements he loves like the flying air ships and the games out front.

My only concern is that the surprise of where the arm is can only happen once. That makes re-reading all about the drawings, so you have to pick this book up at the right age for the child to maximize their time with it (as they will eventually grow out of it.)

BOTTOM LINE: A fun journey through imaginative places...

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my picture book reviews in a special feature called Boo's Picture Gallery...

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is stark, geometric, and stunning! The story is simple - a robot has lost his arm and tries to find it, but younger kids will enjoy the repetition and exploring the illustrations as the robot searches all around town for his missing arm and his friend offers alternatives. The ending will leave them laughing. Would pair well with I Want My Hat Back.

[Kate Puleo Unger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about the pictures. Each one is hand cut and shown in black and yellow. A little boy's robot has lost his arm, and they search everywhere for it, trying out different things as a potential replacement - a leaf, a fork, a lollipop, etc.

The prose is simple. It would be good for a beginning reader or young children - ages 2-4. Even younger children may enjoy gazing at the intricate images.

There is no resolution at the end. The arm is not found. A fork will have to do.

It's a cute read.

http://www.momsradius.com/2017/07/kid...

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the silhouetted drawings as robot searches for his arm. This book would work well for talking about shapes. As far as the story goes, he never does find it.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A robot has lost his arm and his friend is helping him try to find it. But what I really loved were the illustrations, which weren't typical illustrations at all. The author used paper cut art, and it's detailed and beautiful.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atticus loved this one!

[Miss Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art, but a somewhat redundant plot with no way for the reader to figure out the solution.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I have to say, I absolutely loved the blocky black-and-cream illustrations! Onto the text though: By the title, I was expecting a "search and find" kind of book and spent much too much time searching the first picture for the titular missing arm, to realize that the plot is about scouring the neighborhood for replacements, and the arm is nowhere to be found in the pictures (until the twist ending!) I still wish that the missing arm was visible in that first picture though, even if our robot friends didn't find it there. Overall, a delightful little story for the littlest robot lovers!

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a visual delight!

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Can You Find My Robot's Arm?' by Chihiro Takeuchi tells the story of a robot looking for a replacement arm in lots of strange places.

One morning, robot wakes up missing an arm. Initially replacements around the house are suggested: a fork, a pencil, scissors. None of these things is a good replacement, so robot goes looking in some unusual places. The arm can't be found in a tree or an amusement park or inside a whalebone. What will robot do?

The story is pretty simple, but the illustrations are the real standout here. They are all silhouettes and have lots of details. The art is so much fun to look at.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Tundra Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool illustrations from cut paper! Young children will be mesmerized by the designs and following the robot as he looks for his arm. Lots of repetition for beginning readers with topics of perseverance and flexibility sprinkled in.

[Storywraps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robot is having a bad day. He lost his arm and can't tell where to find it. His Robo pet tries his best to give him a hand to locate it but alas they are unable to discover its whereabouts.

They then get a brilliant idea... why not to try a substitute arm... now that may help. They try a fork replacement ...will that work? No, afraid not. A broom? A pencil? A fish bone? A lollipop? Ah ha....a pair of scissors will do the trick nicely, yes? No..... none of these random objects suffice. Poor Robot what is he to do without his beloved arm?

The duo then decide to widen their net and explore outside their house. They scour the garden, the amusement park, the library, even a sweet shop, just to cite a few. Any luck you suppose? No. Nada. None. Where oh where can Robot's arm be? This is very puzzling indeed. It could not have just disappeared into thin air.

Will Robot ever find his dearly loved arm? He really is attached to it... mmmm... or was! Kids will love the silliness of the tale and both kids and adults will ogle at the intricacy and beauty of the amazing handcut images that drive the story home.

This is a wonderful book... and I highly recommend it... hands down.

[La La · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous! The charmingly simplistic two tone illustrations will pull youngsters in and the seeking story will fully entertain them. It ends on a silly note and I love that in picture books! I want this title for my bookshelf.

I was approved for an eARC, via Netgalley, in return for an honest review.

[Cosette]

Wait! I thought the arm WAS found! But, only in the last picture in a spot that was obscured in the first picture which kind of defeats the purpose. And who was the narrator? Weird, right? I am also a robot but I help my robot because it lives in my house or I live in its house? And why would anyone feed a pet robot?!? Robots can’t eat!

[Irayda Moran (Quezada) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an ok read. It's geared towards kiddos who are starting to read. With just a couple of words per page the kids will read guickly. The illustrations were really good. A good way to get the kids reading and have a little fun with searching for the robots arm.

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book through NetGalley.

[Andi Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estuvo muy botana el final. Es como cualquier situación donde pierdes algo y está en el lugar más simple del mundo.

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can You Find My Robot's Arm? is a picturebook by Chihiro Takeuchi. It is currently scheduled for release on July 4 2017. This book is about a robot in search of his missing arm, in a paper-cut journey through home, garden, library, aquarium and the big city. He tries many objects that he finds in the world around him and discards them fairly quickly. Eventually he does settle on a replacement and discovers that it is not such a bad choice.

Can You Find My Robot's Arm? is a nice picturebook with well done paper-cut art work. The text is very simple, and the story allows for the reader to search each pages artwork for the robot's arm, and substitutions. I like the exploration of different possible arms, but was not blown away by the book. It was a good book, but not a great or stand out title. It is worth exploring for big robot fans, but I cannot picture it being requested for repeated reads.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first picture book from this paper cut artist in English. The illustrations are wonderful and remind me off the Where is Waldo books but that is where the similarity ends. This book has the opportunity to make it interactive; to look for the missing arm within the other wonderful shapes that appear in the illustrations but it doesn’t. The arm is actual not found by robot or his friend, it turns up with the dog on the very last page.
The story starts with the title; robot has lost its arm and another robot comes up with many possibilities to replace the lost arm; up in a tree, at a candy story. This creates repetition that is wonderful for younger readers. At these places, robots friend comes up with lots of other solutions but none of them are a good fit. Although one of the earlier solutions, a fork, returns as the end result.
This is not a must have but could be good for detailed oriented students.

[molliekay · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Disclosure: the publisher provided me with a free copy.

I love this sweet little book about trying to find what was lost, but also trying to find replacements. Losing something isn't easy, but try to find the good in the new solution. Kids will also have fun playing eye spy with the detailed pictures.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story but did not think that the pictures matched the age aimed for with the words.
Also I cringed at some of the English then when I read the author's bio on the end flap, realised that English was not her first language. Any mistakes should have been picked up by an editor.
Penguin Random House you need to do a better job of training them.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A robot and friend hike across an interesting robot town (all black and white paper-cut illustrations, very silhouette in style) in search of robot's missing arm. They try a number of alternatives. (Ultimately, the last page reveals that the missing arm has been in the dog's dish all along.)
Short, sweet, and adorable. A possible robot-themed storytime in the works.

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The black silhouette illustrations in this book are definitely the key feature; they are unique and more detailed than one might expect. The problem is that they don't catch my 2.5-year-old's eye. She's not drawn into the details and doesn't understand that the final image is of a dog, making the story, which is already very simple and unexciting, even less of a selling point.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robot wakes up one morning to discover that he had lost his arm. A search ensues, filled with suggestions for substitute arms. The illustrations are black paper cuts on a beige background and are striking in their intricate simplicity.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it. Stark illustrations that are a bit ornate at the same time. Story of a robot who somehow loses its arm and with a friend goes looking for replacements, none of which is quite right. Loved the last illustration!

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique picture book about a robot that uses paper cuts for the illustrations. The two robots look everywhere for the missing arm. Due to the small and detailed illustrations this book would be best for lower elementary children as a one-on-one story.

[Noam · Rating 4 out of 5]

So beautiful and cute! I read it with a small group of kids, and the kindergartner especially loved it. The story is very simple, and the paper cut illustrations are so gorgeous and filled with interesting details.

[Mary T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fascinated with paper cut art after a friend mesmerized me with his talent. As others have mentioned, that is the beauty of the book. The storyline is simple, but the art is fantastic if you're aware that it's cut paper, not drawings. This could be a good picture book pairing with Wild Robot.