Robots are awesome. I have a laser in my eyes, a rocket on my feet, and a super computer on my head. In addition, robots do not eat boiled beans, bathe, or sleep. If you can transform from a small, ordinary human into a big, cool robot ... ... If there is only such a magical "robot source"!
The story begins with a childs play that wants to transform into a robot. The child wears robotic clothes made of paper, and draws his father, mother, and sister into play, but eventually remains alone. The speaker makes a secret offer to the child. Try a magic sauce that can turn into a real robot. Drinking robotic sources made of all kinds of ridiculous materials, the child turns into a real robot. And then I try to do all the wonderful things I did not do when I was a human. Even if it turns into a real robot for a while, the family still avoids themselves. Again the speaker makes a secret offer. Have an antidote to return to humans. It is the beginning of the reversal of the readers thrust. The child burns the antidote recipe and makes robots from his robot source to his family, friends, house, friends, and even food. Finally, do not make a book a robot! Now, the reader becomes the subject of transformation in the object that looked at the transformation of the child. Pulling, spreading, folding, flipping, and inserting the ground plane in a book will transform you into a robot book! And a new story begins.
Adam Rubin is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of ten critically-acclaimed picture books, including the Those Darn Squirrels trilogy, Dragons Love Tacos, Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, Secret Pizza Party, Robo-Sauce and El Chupacabras (winner of the 2020 Texas Blue Bonnet award). In between writing projects, he designs and collects optical illusions, puzzles and games. His favorite color is blue, his favorite food is fried chicken, and his favorite animal is the otter. Adam currently lives in Brooklyn.
Truth be told there's just two wishes On my list every Christmas Peace on earth and a snow storm now and then*
Yeah, those are always my wishes, too. Well, those two things and BOOKS. I've never gotten the first thing, though neither have the other 99.9 million people who wish for it. A snow storm blows through rarely, and usually only when my husband is not home to do the shoveling. And books . . . sadly, books almost never appear beneath my tree. So, I've learned to take care of that myself. And this year, "Santa" brought me ROBO-SAUCE.
It turns out, there is a recipe that will turn you into a REAL ROBOT!
And it's included in this book! Okay, so good luck getting kookamonga flakes (gluten-free, nonetheless!) and baroney balls - even Amazon was no help there! But IF you can find the fixings, you're in for a terrific surprise - being a robot is even cooler than you might imagine. The only bad part is you might get lonely and start to wish everybody else was a robot too!
This is a fantastic book - a must read for robot-fans, kids, those-who-are-kids-at-heart - pretty much everyone. And yes, there's a nifty surprise inside that has to be experienced to be believed.
Have you ever wanted to be a gigantic awesome robot? Be careful what you wish for. Here's the story of a magic potion called Robo-Sauce. It's all happy fun times until robots take over and transform this very book, right before your eyes. Get ready for a surprise ending, the likes of which humanity has never seen!
Being an old fuddy-duddy, I wasn't completely sold by the shiny gimmicky hip thing that this book has going on. Dragons Love Tacos wasn't able to keep my attention past the premise. Secret Pizza Party didn't really do it for me either, besides again the premise and of course the design. But here's the thing, my 6 year old went bananafish for Robo-Sauce. He even made up a song. He was able to do the complex transformation fold-out/over without my help thus turning the book into a robo-book and was fully entertained. So really whatever I think doesn't matter.
Great book for early elementary kids who are obsessed with robots. The narrator has his story high-jacked by the boy who takes over the book in Robo-World-Domination!
Yes, the book literally transforms into a Robot Book. It's funny and cute. But as a librarian, I'm not sure how well it will hold up to multiple transformations. The giant fold-out shiny book cover is one tear away from a withdrawl.
When I whip out the old we’re-living-in-a-golden-age-of-picture-book-creation argument with colleagues and friends, they humor what I’m sure they consider to be my hyperbole. Suuuuuure we are, Betsy. Not prone to exaggeration or anything, are you? But honestly, I think I could make a case for it. Look at the picture books of the past. They were beautiful, intricately crafted, and many of them are memorable and pertinent to child readers today. What other art form for kids can say as much? You don’t exactly have five-year-olds mooning over Kukla, Fran and Ollie these days, right (sorry, mom)? But hand them Goodnight Moon and all is well. Now look at picture books today. We’re living in a visual learner’s world. The combination of relaxed picture books standards (example: comics and meta storytelling are a-okay!), publishers willing to try something new and weird, and a world where technology and visual learning plays a heavy hand in our day-to-day lives yields creative attempts hitherto unknown or impossible to author/illustrators as recently as ten years ago. And when I try to think of a picture that combines these elements (meta storytelling / new and weird / technology permeating everything we do) no book typifies all of this better or with as much panache as Robo-Sauce. Because if I leave you understanding one thing today it is this: This may well contain the craziest picture book construction from a major publisher I have EVER seen. No. Seriously. This is insane. Don’t say I didn’t warn you either.
We all know that kid who thinks pretending to be a robot is the most fun you can have. When the hero of this story tries it though he just ends up annoying his family. That’s when the narrator starts talking to him directly. What if there was a recipe for turning yourself into a REAL robot? Would you make it? Would you take it? You BET you would! But once the boy starts destroying things in true mechanical fashion (I bet you were unaware that robots were capable of creating tornadoes, weren’t you?), it’s pretty lonely. The narrator attempts to impart a bit of a lesson here about how to appreciate your family/dog/life but when it hands over the antidote the robot destroys it on sight. Why? Because it’s just created a Robo-Sauce Launcher with which to turn its family, its dog, the entire world, and even the very book you are reading into robots! How do you turn a normal picture book into a robot? Behold the pull out cover that wraps around the book. Once you put it on and open the other cover, the text and images inside are entirely robotized. Robo-Domination is near. It may, however, involve some pretty keen cardboard box suits.
These days the idea that a narrator would speak directly to the characters in a book is par for the course. Breaking down the fourth wall has grown, how do you say, passé. We almost expect all our books to be interactive in some way. If Press Here made the idea of treating a book like an app palatable then it stands to reason that competing books would have to up the ante, as it were. In fact, I guess if I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I think I’ve kind of been waiting for Robo-Sauce for a long time. Intrusive narrators, characters you have to yell at, books you shake, they’re commonplace. Into this jaded publishing scene stepped Rubin and Salmieri. They’re New York Times bestsellers in their own right ( Dragons Love Tacos) so they’re not exactly newbies to the field. They’ve proven their selling power. But by what witchcraft they convinced Penguin to include a shiny pull out cover and to print a fifth of the book upside down, I know not. All I can be certain of is that this is a book of the moment. It is indicative of something far greater than itself. Either it will spark a new trend in picture books as a whole or it will be remembered as an interesting novelty piece that typified a changing era.
Let’s look at the book itself then. In terms of the text, I’m a fan. The narrator’s intrusive voice allows the reader to take on the role of adult scold. Kids love it when you yell at a book’s characters for being too silly in some way and this story allows you to do precisely that. Admittedly, I do wish that Rubin had pushed the narrator-trying-to-teach-a-lesson aspect a little farther. If the lesson it was trying to impart was a bit clearer than just the standard “love your family” shtick then it could have had more of a punch. Imagine if, instead, the book was trying to teach the boy about rejecting technology or something like that. Any picture book that could wink slyly at the current crop of drop-the-iPhone-pick-up-a-book titles currently en vogue would be doing the world a service. I’m not saying I disagree with their message. They’re just all rather samey samey and it would be nice to see someone poke a little fun at them (while still, by the end, reinforcing the same message).
As for Salmieri’s art, the limited color palette is very interesting. You’ve your Day-Glo orange, black, white, brown, and pale pink (didn’t see that one coming). Other colors make the occasional cameo but the bulk of the book is pretty limited. It allows the orange to shine (or, in the case of the robot cover, the limited palette allows for something particularly shiny). And check out that subtle breaking down of visual stereotypes! Black dad and white mom. A sister that enjoys playing with trucks. I am ON BOARD with all this.
I won’t be the last parent/librarian/squishy human to hold this book in my hands and wonder what the heck to do with it. What I do know is that it’s a lot of fun. Totally original. And it has a bunch of robots in it causing massive amounts of destruction. All told, I’d say that’s a win. So domo arigato, Misters Rubin and Salmieri. Domo arigato a whole bunch.
The resident seven-year-old is at the point where she's really getting the joy of reading, so I'm always on the lookout for something that's both funny and adventurous to spur that enjoyment.
This book is it!
The book arrived yesterday and was waiting when my daughter got home from school. Normally, when she's just home from school, it's play time. Yesterday was different. She picked up the book and immediately began reading. From the start there were exclamations and giggles - and loud ones!
Suddenly, she was dying to show me things from the book. Look at this! Oh, mom, you need to see this! And then, finally...
OH MY GOSH THE BOOK BECOMES A ROBOT!!!
This is fabulous! The book is funny as can be, light-hearted, and my daughter absolutely loved it. If you still have doubts, do a quick web search. My daughter and I saw a video featuring the author and illustrator where they demonstrate the book and it's hilarious. If we hadn't already bought the book, we would have ordered it after watching it.
An Absolute Gem of a book for your Beginning Reader.
fter a little boy gets his wish and is transformed into a robot, he realizes that he prefers being a boy -- oh wait, EERRrrt, stop! What are you -- don't aim that Robo-Sauce Launcher at me! AAAAA! AAAAGGG---- .... ... beep boop beep beep THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN TERMINATED. BUY THE BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO APPRECIATES SUBVERSIVE HUMOR. END TRANS.
At first I thought it was a little too silly to be a classic, and then the silliness sort of bamboozles you by ratcheting up to absurd levels and you’d have a heart of stone to not be swept along with it. I particularly enjoy how it plays with the format of the book too. It very much reminds of Souther Salazar’s masterpiece The Monster That Ate Stars, which is - trust me - among the highest honours I can give
Can't say I've read anything like this before. The older students 3-5 liked it as a read aloud especially when it turns into a robot book and dominates the world. It begins with a boy in a robot costume who makes a potion that turns him into a robot. He terrorizes his city and turns his family into robots before the narrator starts to scold him for losing control. This was a good way to explain metafiction to students. Robo-boy gets back at the narrator and zaps the book into a robot. I'm not quite sure what the message is except that a kid can live through the robot and pretend he or she has power in the world or let the robot loose inside. It's a fun, weird book.
More creative, anarchic, laugh-out-loud antics with author Adam Rubin and illustrator Daniel Salmieri. The ingredients in the top-secret, neon orange Robo-Sauce are fun to read aloud ("a sprig of spankenfarfle" is my favorite). The general mayhem (including a Robo-Tornado) will be a hit with anyone who craves a little noise and chaos with their picture books. I especially loved the lines, "Where did everybody go? Don't they know how much fun it is to go on a rampage?" After reading this story, everybody will know exactly how much fun it is.
I was so puzzled by this book, I had to YouTube for an example of how to read it aloud. Leave it to Betsy Bird to save the day with a wonderful discussion of the book and how to manipulate the second cover to make the Robo-Book work. Kids will love the sound effects, frustrated narrator, and the unique manipulation of the robotized story at the end.
This is a one-of-a-kind book. The silly writing, the fun illustrations, and the inclusion of a family of color all make this a great book, but when it turns into a robot book?!? Priceless.
First of all, it is a great book. It is not a normal book, it is very interesting and different from others. It’s about a kid becoming a robot and then turning everyone around him to robot too. The author used fun words in his book, like “Dang, Hmm, Boom”. The book is very fun but also a little bit scary. Because you start to think will one-day robots destroy us. So we should all think about that and be careful about technology and robots. We shouldn’t just let them control us. Illustrations in the book are weird, funny, interesting, and basic. Almost all kids can understand it. You can read it to your children, relative, or someone you know interested in robots. They will love it.
Not my type of picture book. There narrator is talking to the character in the story. I don't usually like when that barrier is broken. Basically, it's a story about a kid turning into a robot and then doing robot things. It turns out it's not always great being a robot and he can't turn back so everything else is turned into robot form. Really thin story and the humor wasn't that great.
I thought it was pretty funny and clever, and the fold-out pages were a hoot. My five-year-old robot-loving boy was completely bewildered by the entire thing. Maybe he's a little too young? Or maybe this one will just appeal to parents more than kids.
So you want to be a robot? So people don't understand why? What can you do? SPRAY THEM WITH ROBO-SAUCE AND CHANGE THEM INTO ROBOTS! But now everything is different...did you really want to 'robotize' the world? Fantastic art and design make this a very fun book with a deeper message for adults.
Title/Author - Would you believe me if I said there is a way to become a robot if you took...
"4 cups of plaxico powder,
12 volts of glutton free kookamonga flakes,
14 baroney balls (scrubbed),
1 pint electric boogaloo,
4 cups of tumbleberries (peeled and smashed),
a spring of sparkenfarfle,
and a pinch of magnatunda,"
and put them together to make Robo – Sauce only too become a giant robot with the power of awesomeness, but just when you thought it was done you find out that the robots have Robo – Sauce launchers creating more robots leading to all sorts of shenanigans? Too be honest I wouldn't believe me either, but read this book called Robo - Sauce which has the genre of fiction who is created by Adam Rubin who is also the narrator to find out!!!
Review: I would rate this book a 5/5 because it has funny lighthearted moments as well a funny narrator and lovable characters. I would recommend this book you young audiences from at least above the age 4 or 2, this book is also for people who like robots and who want to see people being included.