Recommended Ages: Gr. 2-12

Plot Summary: A wordless graphic novel following the friendship of a dog and his newly built robot. After building a robot, dog and robot watch a movie from the library, check out a book from the library, and go to the dog beach. As they are ready to head home after a fun day, robot can't move, so dog sadly leaves without him. When dog tries to return the next day with a book called Robot Repair Manual, he is saddened to find the beach closed for the winter. While dog makes it through the winter by dreaming of dog coming back for him and making new friends, dog makes it through the winter by dreaming of being reunited with robot and making new friends (duck, anteaters, and snowman). The robot ends up in a metal scrapyard and becomes a companion to the raccoon that buys him and dog reluctantly buys a new robot kit.

Setting: city near a beach that gets snow in the winter (author is from Chicago)

Characters: dog
robot
duck
anteaters
snowman
raccoon
rabbits - break robot's leg to plug hole in their boat
monkey - find robot on beach and sells him to scrap metal year
birds - build nest in robots arms
penguin - leaves clothes next to dog

Recurring Themes: friendship, emotions, feelings, seasons, dreams

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: I LOVED this book. The reader really feels the pain of robot and dog. Even though it's fairly long (205 pages), it doesn't take long to "read" the pictures.

No words, quick read. Very cute book (can I say cute?) about friendship. Really can't go wrong with robots and dogs. ( )

I heard great things about this book, only to be mostly disappointed. It wasn't terrible, it was just over-hyped. ( )

Sara Varon's Robot Dreams is a wordless book following the broken friendship of a dog and a robot. After sharing a day at the beach, the robot is left behind, rusted and unmoving. Entirely using pictures, the story shows two characters trying to overcome their loneliness; the dog tries to alleviate his loss by making new friends, while the robot can do nothing but dream. With a simple plot and simple drawings, the author still conveys all the fragility of human emotions. The book is over quickly, but on each page vivid colours express all the characters' vulnerabilities in this sweet tale.