Robot Dreams (edition 2007)

Summary: When Dog builds a robot and takes him into the water at the beach, he realizes that it wasn't good for the robot and leaves him there. The dreams of Robot and the actual actions of Dog are the main focus of this sad story.
Genre: Graphic Novel; Wordless
Response: It was an alright read. Nothing too exciting to point out. I did find it interesting that the ending was the way it was because it makes you feel like there should be another volume coming out in the series. Then again, it's hard to tell since it's wordless and there's nothing but the semi-cliffhanger to clue the reader in on that.
Theme: Wordless; Friendship; Responsibility; Loss; New Friends; Dreams; Worrying
Classroom Use: Since it ends the way it does, I'd have my students come up with an ending (does Robot confront Dog or continue to live his life with Raccoon as a radio?) ( )

Quite poignant. ( )

What happens when a robot and a dog become friends? Turns out a pretty sad story of how you have to move on from some of the things you love. ( )

In this wordless graphic novel, two friends, a dog and a robot make a terrible mistake on their visit to the beach when the tin robot goes swimming and ends up rusted in place on his beach towel. The dog reluctantly leaves his friend where he is on the beach, but soon attempts to return to repair him only to discover that the beach is now closed and he cannot get to the robot. The meat of the book follows the next year in the life of the robot and dog and their struggles to deal with their seperation. Varon manages to convey layers of story through her illustrations. The story is seperated into months of the passing year with a single small panel at the bottom of a page often introducing and ending segments. Other spreads include multi-panel arrangements and full page illustrations. Varon uses wavy-lined panels to indicate the dreams and thoughts of her characters which make up a surprising portion of the narrative. This is really excellent, although bittersweet, storytelling and is a good next step up for fans of Owly. ( )

At a glance, this is a quick, wordless comic about a dog and his robot friend, and how the robot got rusty at the beach. But the kick in the gut is that after the robot gets rusty, Dog doesn't know what to do. So he leaves. And tries to make new friends, all of whom abandon him in some way or another (the duck family that flies south, the snowman who melts, the anteaters whose epicurean tastes don't agree with Dog's stomach). All the while, Robot lies on the beach, dreaming of salvation so he can go find his friend again.

What I particularly liked (in addition to the art) is that we manage to have a happy ending--Robot's salvation and both making new friends--without the expected ending. No, Dog doesn't rescue Robot, though he at least tries. For a book so cute, I'm left wanting to cry over the bittersweet ending, the fragility of relationships, the impermanence of friendship, the reality of loss despite the best intentions. ( )