Children's Books about Robots

Robots occupy the gray area between reality and fantasy. Although the future envisioned by "The Jetsons" - where robots would service our every need - never quite materialized, robotics still plays an important role in modern life, especially in manufacturing sector, the military, and space exploration.

Oh, a rhyming post title! You know what that means don't you? Whitney = excited! (I know, I know, when am I not excited? But, this one is the new favorite around here, so that's something worth rhyming about I'd say.) and its a new gimmick book in our house.

illustration by E. Benyaminson A Journey Round My Skull has posted a wonderful series of robot illustrations from Soviet children's books from the 1960's-1980's. via Boing Boing

Beyond its pointed social message about the perils of earthly overabundance and human passivity, the movie "Wall-E" made one thing clear: Being friends with a robot would be awfully fun. Small children know this already, which is what makes two new picture books, "Boy and Bot" and "Beep and Bah," so appealing.

Welcome to Your Awesome Robot by Viviane Schwarz is the first publication from a new and very exciting looking imprint, Flying Eye Books. A craft book about building robot costumes out of cardboard boxes, Viv Schwarz's book is like no craft book we've read before. It's a bedtime story as well as a round-the-kitchen-table manual.