Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot (Book #1) HC/TPPublisher: Scholastic Inc.
Release Date: April 29, 2014
Price: $15.99 (HC); $5.99 (TP)
Creator(s): Dav Pilkey (Story); Dan Santat (Art)
Format: 112 pgs., Black & White, 5 ¼" x 7 ¾", Hardcover/Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-5456-3106-8 (HC); 978-0-5456-3009-2 (TP)
Age Range: 4-8 yrs. old
ICv2 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Now that hybrid mixtures of chapter book and graphic novel have become so popular, the Ricky Ricotta stories of Dav Pilkey are being reissued with color illustrations by Dan Santat, replacing the black and white drawings of the earlier edition. While these beautiful illustrations will make the book very attractive to readers, the book still has a few problems.
One is that the story may come across as being derivative of such stories as The Iron Giant. In reality, that film barely preceded the first edition of this book, but by now it's been a long time. Another is that there's a distracting "flip-o-rama" sequence in a major fight scene which adds nothing to the reader's enjoyment, and wastes several pages. Flipping between two images that are wildly different doesn't produce a flip-book animation effect, so it's unclear what the intent was.
The result is a good-but-not-great story, but with exceptional illustrations, falling midway between the audience for Captain Underpants and the audience for Geronimo Stilton.
Younger kids will be the main audience for this book, and they will enjoy it. It lacks the "poop joke" appeal of some of Pilkey's other work, but the fight scenes and the robot should have strong appeal.
Aimed at school-aged children, probably best for grades 2-5.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
