Robot Burp Head, Smartypants!

Do you know your ABCs? Can you count from 1 to 10 or maybe even higher? Can you do both of those things all while letting out a monstrous, or rather a robotic, belch? How about while juggling blind folded or while skateboarding and balancing apples on your head? Maybe if you were a robot and just drank an entire can of nutty, bolty, and tinny motor oil you could complete the entire “alphabelch.” Kids will have a roaring good time trying to do what the robots in this book do. Parents on the other hand may need to be excused to another room. Goofier and wackier than any other alphabet book, Annette Simon uses her experience as an advertising creative director to grab and hold children’s attention with bold color, silly dialogue between belching robots, and one laugh out loud title. The illustrations are very amusing. I enjoyed the use of color and mix of medium. Simon’s two robots are full of personality. It’s impressive that she can take simple color and simple shapes and lines and create a comical image of a robot that comes to life. Text is just as big, bold, and fun as the robots. There is a surprise character that has the robots wanting new speakers. “Her database needs work, but her speakers? A-1!” Parents may need to explain that part, but parents will enjoy the humor just as much as I did. For some reason kids find burps to be incredibly entertaining. Annette Simon is pure genius to use burps to teach kids the alphabet, numbers, and something about ZOINKS. I admit, I found it quite fun to read this silly alphabelching book.