Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover (review)

In four brief chapters, each corresponding to an item on Rabbit's sleepover "to do" list, rabbit and his pal Robot engage in standard slumber-party activities before going to bed. Robot, however, falls asleep before the pair finishes playing Go Fish and Rabbit tries to interpret a message that scrolls out of Robot a few letters at a time. "BAT" prompts Rabbit to try to scare his friend awake with a rubber bat, "BATTER" gets him whipping up cake batter and offering it to Robot's inert form, and finally "BATTERIES LOW" causes him to understand and to replace Robot's batteries. This gives Robot almost too much energy, but after the friends put on pajamas and Robot "reviews the day's data" ("1. We enjoyed a pizza picnic. 2. We laughed about the TV remote in your ear. 3. We played Go Fish and Old Maid. 4. We giggled when I put on your pajamas"), the duo finally goes to bed. The large font, simple, short sentence structure, and numerous attractive illustrations make this accessible for readers who are beyond Willems' Elephant and Piggie series but not quite ready for lengthier chapter books. There's plenty of humor, both in the text and the crisp and simply composed digital illustrations (Rabbit's buck-toothed, big-nosed face is amusing in its own right, and he looks even funnier with a remote stuck in his ear). Rabbit's initial list-making, Robot's "data review," and the gradually unscrolling message in which multiple words can be found also provide useful instructional opportunities for talking about prediction, summarization, and decoding.