Cosmo and the Robot - Hardcover

Pinkney, J. Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688159400 ISBN 13: 9780688159405

Publisher: Greenwillow, 2000

Synopsis

It's up to Cosmo's quick thinking to save the day when his haywire robot, Rex, returns from the asteroid dump and goes after his sister Jewel.

About this title

About the Author

Brian Pinkney has illustrated numerous books for children, including two Caldecott Honor Books, The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci and Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Mr. Pinkney's own books include Max Found Two Sticks, Jojo's Flying Sidekick and The Adventures of Sparrowboy, the winner of the 1997 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. Brian Pinkney has been awarded the Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration three times. He lives with his wife, Andrea, and their children in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2-When Cosmo's best friend, Rex, a gentle robot who's afraid of his own shadow, bumps his head and starts acting like a monster, he's relegated to the asteroid dump, leaving Cosmo bereft. To cheer him up, Cosmo's parents (scientists who have brought the family to live on Mars) give him a Super Solar System Utility Belt, complete with 10 supersonic attachments. He uses one to take apart his sister's Easy Bake oven, causing a squabble that prompts their parents to send them to Zone 5 to collect rocks for an experiment. However, Cosmo becomes distracted, applying the various attachments to take apart an abandoned terrain rover, and when his sister fails to return to where she impatiently left him, he puts his tool kit to good use, rescuing her from a menacing Rex-who, despite his ferocity, is still afraid of shadows. All ends well as Cosmo reconstructs Rex, restoring him to his former benign self. Pinkney's signature scratchboard style is used to good effect in creating a Martian landscape in eerie tones of peach, pink, purple, and yellow; some imaginative space equipment; and two appealing children. Topping off the fun is a glossary with whimsical definitions of the 10 "state-of-the-art" features of the Super Solar System Utility Belt-batteries not included.
Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This fanciful flight whisks readers to Mars, where a human boy lives with his parents and bossy older sister, Jewel. Cosmo is dismayed when his best friend, a robot named Rex, bumps his head and begins "acting like a monster." In compensation for having to dispose of Rex in the asteroid dump, his parents give Cosmo a Super Solar System Utility Belt containing 10 "supersonic attachments" with which the child dismantles several objects, including Jewel's Easy Bake oven. But the lad puts these tools to constructive use as well: with them he reassembles Rex and restores him to his former, friendly self. Pinkney's (The Adventures of Sparrowboy) trademark art, created on scratchboard with dyes and acrylic paints, presents a barren planet in the slightly kitschy tradition of '50s science fiction. Even with the outlandish plot and extraterrestrial setting, the author/artist lets ordinary family dynamics shine brightly. Ages 4-up. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Acclaimed illustrator Pinkney here doubles as author with satisfying results. Cosmo and his older sister, Jewel, live with their scientist parents on Mars. Cosmo prefers the company of his timid robot Rex to that of his high-handed sister, but when Rex bumps his head and starts acting wacky, he is carted off and left for junk. To console Cosmo, his parents present him with a Solar System Utility Belt that enables Cosmo to channel his love of tinkering and save the day. While on a rock-collecting mission, he rescues his sister from the clutches of haywire Rex--and then rebuilds Rex, good as new. Though Pinkney has chosen an extraterrestrial setting for his story, it is clearly about earthly, family relations and Cosmo's struggle for recognition from Jewel. Not groundbreaking but well-told and nicely illustrated by Pinkney's signature scratch-board art. Tim Arnold
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwillow
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688159400
• ISBN 13: 9780688159405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32