Publisher: Walker Books for Young Children (October 1, 2010)
Reading Level: 4 to 8 years old
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Description from GoodReads:
Take one robotic Santa, nine cyber-reindeer pulling his techno-sleigh, and twelve days of Christmas circuitry and wizardry—and this incredible holiday offering is guaranteed to add up to every gear-head's delight!
This unique spin on the familiar song just begs to be read aloud, as it retains the cadence and lyricism of the original. With two turbo doves and three wrench hens leading the way, young readers will be thrilled to join Robo-Santa on his annual round of gift giving. Nathan Hale has created a special delivery for all robot fans.
If you are a fan of The Twelve Days of Christmas and like collecting various versions of the same book, then Nathan Hale's The Twelve Bots of Christmas would be a fun addition to a collection. The verse follows the traditional song with substitutions such as "Two Turbo-Doves" for "Two Turtle Doves" or "Four Calling Borgs" vs. "Four Calling Birds" which allows for children to sing the song as you would its traditional counterpart.
The brilliant part of this book for me was the illustrations. The book opens with Robo-Santa in a space-ship like sled led by eight mechanical reindeer. Rather than a partridge in a pear tree though there is a"cartridge in a gear tree". The realistic eyes of the "wrench hens" are designed from screws and the neck/head/beak of the "geese-o-matics" truly conjure up images of geese. I admire the work and illustrations of Hale. He uses bright colors, and sharp images that make the imaginative pictures pop on the page. Readers will pick up new things with each perusal through the book. And I have feeling that if I was more of a sci-fi fan that there may be some nods to the work of other famous robots.
If there is a robot fan in your life, then this would make a great gift.