The Runaway Robot by prolific science fiction author Lester Del Ray uses simple language to tell the not-as-simple story of a boy and his robot. Maybe in this current political environment I’m just thinking more about enslavement and its underlying causes and effects, but this book definitely made me think about the relationship between a human and his animal pet as well as a human and another human who is enslaved to him.

Rex, the robot of the title, is something between human and pet. He is man-made, owned by the boy Paul, and given to Paul as a companion and guardian. Rex has no human rights and few human privileges. Rex is often unable to understand the things that he has been programmed to do. He has no curiosity, only “a limited capacity to inquire into unforeseeable conditions in order to avoid destruction.” Rex doesn’t grow in his abilities or his understanding. He is what he is programmed to be. Or is he?

“After all, I was only a robot. I wasn’t a human even if I did feel like one sometimes. At least I thought that what I felt must have been somewhat the same as human emotions.“

The Runaway Robot, p. 27

Paul, however, is human. He’s sixteen years old, but this book was published in 1965 and Paul acts more like a twelve year old. When Rex and Paul are told that Paul’s family is returning to Earth from the colony on Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon) where they have lived all of Paul’s life, but that Rex can’t go with them, Paul rebels. And somehow, a bit of that rebellion infects Rex, too, and the two friends run away together. As Paul and Rex journey together through the solar system, stowaways, runaways, fugitives, and partners-in-crime, Rex becomes, like Pinocchio, something like a Real Boy.

The story, although exciting and just fun, brings up ethical and political issues that will make children and adults think. What is the value of fulfillment in a job or career? What is the line between stealing and borrowing? And most of all, can a sentient and feeling being be owned by another? What is the line between humans and animal or human and thinking robot? Are we going to have to deal with this last ethical question in a very real way as robots become more and more human-like, and humans make more and more use of robotics and computers to enhance and even replace their own abilities? Can a robot be human? I’d say no. Can a human become robotic? The jury’s still out on that.

Jane, age 13, and her brother Bobby, age 11, go with their cousin Vincent, age 15, to ride the boundary fence of their family’s property in the wild and rough country of central New South Wales. Their job is to check the fence for breaks, fix what simple things they can, and mark the places that need more extensive repairs. The job will take several days, and the three young people are excited to be entrusted with such a responsibility and given freedom to camp and ride on their own for up to a week.

Of course, trouble overtakes the trio, both unavoidable trouble and some of their own making. The central character and theme of the story are Bobby and his emergence into leadership and maturity over the course of the children’s adventure. Bobby, who grows up to become Robert by the end of the book, is “thin, freckled, and silent”, “not a boy that motherly ladies longed to cuddle, nor had he ever been.” His gaze is described as “remote and calculating”, and he is said to be “accustomed to working out his own problems”, “not ungenerous and no fool.”

Vincent and Jane, on the other hand, are more gregarious, cheerful, and friendly. They are the sort of children, or teens, that adults trust, and Jane looks up to Vincent with a sort of hero-worship that she could never give to her younger brother. It was fascinating and quite true-to-life to see how the dynamics between these three change over the course of their very dangerous and challenging adventure in the wild outback of Australia.

I have read several other children’s books by Australian authors, set in Australia, or said to be characteristic of Australian children’s literature:

• Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park
• Red Sand, Blue Sky by Cathy Applegate
• Walkabout by James Vance Marshall
• Ash Road by Ivan Southall
• Hill’s End by Ivan Southall
• The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson
• Storm Boy by Colin Thiele

I can recommend all of the above books. But from now on for children or adults who are asking for one book set in Australia to give them a taste of that continent and country, I will be recommending The Boundary Riders. I would like to read more of Ms Phipson’s books, especially her two books Good Luck to the Rider and The Family Conspiracy, both of which won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award. Maybe those will become go-to recommendations as well.

Who in the world has not heard of George, the curious monkey? Curious George, who lives with the Man With the Yellow Hat, when George is not living at the zoo. Curious George, who always manages to get himself into a pickle wherever he goes. Curious George, who acts just like an inquisitive four year old and thereby continues to endear himself to succeeding generations of children, ages four to eighty-four.

Hans and Margret Rey were a German Jewish couple who escaped from the Nazi takeover of Paris on a couple of bicycles to the Spanish border, then a train to Lisbon, and a boat to Brazil. They eventually came to the United States, bringing George’s manuscript with them. Despite the attribution of the books to Hans alone, Margret and Hans wrote and illustrated the seven original books about Curious George together, and together they found a publisher.

“Curious George was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941, and for sixty years these books have been capturing the hearts and minds of readers throughout the world. All the Curious George books, including the seven original stories by Margret and Hans, have sold more than twenty-five million copies. So popular that his original story has never been out of print, George has become one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in children’s literature. His adventures have been translated into many languages, including Japanese, French, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Swedish, German, Chinese, Danish, and Norwegian.”

~Curious About George? Houghton Mifflin publishers website

Hans and Margret wrote and illustrated seven stories about Curious George:

• Curious George (1941)
• Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
• Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
• Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
• Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
• Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
• Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

These seven have been joined by a multitude of “new adventures”, paperback editions, board books, television series, movies, translations, video games, toys, games, and other merchandise–all showcasing (or exploiting) the beloved character of George the monkey. Someone (The Rey family? Houghton Mifflin?) has made a lot of money from George.

I have looked at some of the spin-off books and videos featuring Curious George, but I continue to believe that the original seven books were and remain the classic and essential Curious George canon of living books. The rest are mostly harmless twaddle, but certainly not up to the standards of the first seven books.

In the first book we meet our monkey friend when The Man With the Yellow Hat captures George in a sack and takes him from the jungle in Africa to “a big city.” I always thought of the big city as New York City, but like The Man With the Yellow Hat, the city is never explicitly named. The capture of George, made possible by his curiosity about the yellow hat, feels a bit like kidnapping and enslavement to the 21st century reader, but we are told that “George was sad, but he was still a little curious.” Although George faces near-drowning, imprisonment, danger, and a life of crime, all as a result of his insatiable curiosity, all’s well that ends well, and George goes on to live happily through many more adventures in the succeeding six books.

When Curious George Takes a Job, George escapes from his home at the zoo (again), and goes through a series of jobs, mostly ended by his continued inattention and impulsive curiosity. Eventually, George ends up in the hospital where he gets into more trouble. But The Man With the Yellow Hat finds him and takes him to a movie studio to make a movie of his life, and again George survives and thrives.

In Curious George Rides a Bike, George learns to ride a bicycle, of course, but he also manages to deliver newspapers, make and sail paper boats, ride a unicycle, play a bugle, and rescue a bear in danger. Some of these learning experiences are interrupted by George’s curiosity and naughtiness, but George is hailed as a hero in the end.

In the next book, Curious George Gets a Medal, George creates a mess and a flood and while trying to clean that up he makes an even bigger mess until he runs away to the museum. There, he gets into more trouble, but he has the opportunity to make it all right when he’s asked to fly in a rocket to become the first monkey in space. George is a hero, and The Man tells him that “the whole world is proud of you today.”

Curious George Flies a Kite was written with a “restricted vocabulary of only 219 words.” Margret Rey said later that this controlled vocabulary idea was a fad and a mistake, but that luckily the children didn’t notice that George had been dumbed down, so to speak. George gets carried off by his new kite, but he eventually returns home safely as usual.

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet, George learns to read books instead of tearing them up, and he is finally given doughnuts as a reward for his hard work in learning the alphabet. George plays tricks and monkeyshines, throughout the story, but he does learn to read and write the alphabet.

The final story in the original series of Curious George books is Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Written at the instigation of and in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, this book has George going to the hospital after he eats a jigsaw puzzle piece and gets a tummy-ache. George gets an X-ray and a shot, anesthesia and an operation, but he recovers well and manages to cheer up the other sick children with his mischievous tricks. And George even meets the mayor.

Of these seven books, the first three and the last one are my favorites and are the most engaging of the seven. Nevertheless, all seven are worth reading; they all wear well. George, like Big Bird of Sesame Street, is the eternal four year old who is always getting into scrapes, but always endearing and lovable throughout.

Father’s Day is coming soon, and you can find a good list of Picture Books to Celebrate Father’s Day at Biblioguides. Some of these—What Mary Jo Shared, Owl Moon, Knuffle Bunny—are favorites of mine, too. Others are new to me. But one of the books that is on my Father’s Day list, and also on the Biblioguides list, is this one by Charlotte Zolotow, who also happens to be one of my favorite picture book authors.

In The Summer Night, it’s bedtime and the little girl’s father has put her to bed after taking care of her all day, but the little girl isn’t sleepy. She asks for various things: a drink of water, an apple, an open window. Her father patiently and kindly gives the little girl all that she asks for and more: a story, a song, and finally a walk outside together in the nighttime. The little girl and her father explore the night together, return home, and then after another snack and a kiss, the little girl finally falls asleep as the owl hoots outside her window.

Reminiscent of Yolen’s Owl Moon as far as plot is concerned, The Summer Night is simpler and of course, more summery, than Owl Moon, which takes place on a winter night as a boy and his father go for a walk in the snow. The little girl and her father obviously have a loving relationship, and I can see this book becoming a favorite bedtime story for some children. Buyer beware, however, your child may want to go on a nighttime walk after reading this story. I want to go on a nighttime walk after reading this story!

Originally titled The Night When Mother Was Away and illustrated by Reisie Lonette in 1958, The Summer Night was republished with its new title and given new watercolor illustrations by Ben Schecter in 1974. Mother is never mentioned at all in the 1974 version of the book, and Biblioguides says that the text has been changed in the reprint edition. The story in 1974 and after simply begins, “The little girl’s father took care of her all day.”

A classic easy reader, first published in 1961, Robert the Rose Horse features faithful, hard-working Robert, a horse who has an unfortunate allergy to roses. When Robert’s allergy, and the mighty sneezes that result from it, wreak havoc in one job, persistent Robert moves on to another job, trying to find his place in the world. Finally, of course, Robert’s sneezes save the day, foiling a bank robbery and making Robert an Allergic Hero.

I honestly don’t know what it is about this story that makes it so appealing. I might credit nostalgia since I first read about Robert back when I was an emerging reader over fifty years ago. However, I have had several library patrons, emerging readers of the twenty-first century, fall in love with Robert, too. Maybe the illustrations by P.D. Eastman, of Go Dog Go and Are You My Mother? fame, add just the right touch of whimsy and humor to the story. Or perhaps the theme of turning a liability into a super-power is a part of the attraction.

Joan Heilbroner said she got the idea for her story from observations of daily life. “‘I got the idea for Robert the Rose Horse because Fidel Castro was in town,’ she recalls, ‘and there were police horses all over the city. That has nothing to do with my story, but the horses were the trigger.”’ (Publishers Weekly) Robert the Rose Horse was Joan Heilbroner’s first book, and it was acquired and published by Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel) when he was editor of Beginner Books at Random House. Ms. Heilbroner was a school librarian, so maybe she just knew what would make those first and second graders smile. The Random House website says that Robert the Rose Horse has been in print for over fifty years. I’d say that kind of longevity qualifies it as a classic.

A couple of weird footnotes to this story: some of the copies of Robert the Rose Horse have a blue cover like the picture above, and others are red, like roses? I’m not sure why the color variation. And some people have complained that the robbers and the policemen who are chasing them all carry guns in the illustrations. Whatever.

Greyfriars Bobby is set in Edinburgh, surprisingly a place which Eleanor Atkinson never visited. A vivid, heart-warming animal story, based on a true account, Greyfriars Bobby tells of a devoted Skye terrier, who stays faithfully by his master, even after death.

Introduction, Greyfriars Bobby, Penguin Popular Classics

Just for fun, I’m reading books this year from my library and elsewhere whose authors’ names begin with A. Greyfriars Bobby was a book I acquired somewhere(?), and I only knew it was a dog story. I’m not much of an animal person, so I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the story very much. But I thought I’d give it a try.

Well, I do recommend the book quite highly—with a couple of caveats. For those of you who don’t mind spoilers, the dog does NOT die, until the very end of the story when he has attained a good life and a good old age, for a dog. There is another heart-rending death, though, within the first few chapters of the book, the death of an old man, not of the dog. So, reader beware.

Also, the dialog in the book is almost all in Scottish dialect. My copy had some helpful footnotes that translated some of the Scottish words and phrases: inglenuek, ilka, nicht, siller, sonsie, leal, fule. But other terms were left to the reader to puzzle out. It would be hard going for anyone who was totally unfamiliar with the language of Scotland.

Still, I think the story is well worth the trauma and the language detective work. Greyfriars Bobby is a little dog, or a “bit dog” as the men call him in the book, but he has a big personality and a winning charm. After the death of his master, Bobby becomes a dog-about-Edinburgh, a dog with no master. He’s also a dog with a mission, a mission he stays faithful to for the rest of his natural life.

The book would make a good read aloud for the whole family. It was supposedly written for adults, but children would enjoy it with a little help from an adult reader with the dialect and the somewhat ornate and antiquated language. I think families with some Scots heritage would especially take to the story and would get a taste of Edinburgh and its history as well. Also, if you’re at all interested in dog stories that are heroic, not tragic . . .

Greyfriars Bobby (May 4, 1855 – January 14, 1872) was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself on 14 January 1872. The story continues to be well known in Scotland, through several books and films. A prominent commemorative statue and nearby graves are a tourist attraction.

from Wikipedia

There’s also a picture book by Ruth Brown that tells an abbreviated version of the story of Greyfriars Bobby. And there are at least a couple of movies based on Bobby’s story, one by Disney. Take your pick, but I’d suggest at least trying Atkinson’s novel first, as long as you’re ready for a full length dog novel.

The Stolen Lake, the fourth book in the Wolves Chronicles, was a decent read, fully as compelling as the first three books in the series. The book mixes Arthurian lore with South American settings and folklore in an alternate history where the British/Romans colonized a portion of South American as they escaped the Saxon invasion in the sixth century B.C. The story itself, however, takes place in the wilds of New Cumbria and Hy Brazil during the reign of James III, King of England, as the HMS Thrush and its crew are summoned to the aid of Queen Ginevra of New Cumbria, a longtime ally of Britain.

Dido Twite is again the heroine of the story; in fact, maybe these should be called the Dido Chronicles since there’s more Dido than wolves in the stories that follow after The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Dido’s straightforward, somewhat ignorant, but always brave and practical, character shines in these books, and I think children who are trying to make sense of a mystifying grown-up world will identify with Dido. Actually, I’m still trying to make sense of the world, and I identify with Dido.

These stories involve lots of kidnapping, spying, adventure, and derring-do. I think Dido is kidnapped and held prisoner in this book no less than three, maybe four, times in the course of 291 pages. And there are many other dangers: giant birds that carry off children, fish that eat human flesh, active volcanoes, glaciers and landslides, not to mention your everyday witches, soothsayers, and cruel power-hungry courtiers and royals. It’s suspenseful and even a bit breathtaking, but I don’t think any child will be too much traumatized by the adventures of Dido Twite and company. And everything pretty much comes out all right in the end.

Joan Aiken succeeds again in writing a crazy, disbelief-suspending, fantastical tale that will take readers to a place that never was and convince them that it really, truly could have been. I’m already looking forward to the fifth book in the series, The Cuckoo Tree.

• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.
• Is This a House for Hermit Crab? by Megan McDonald, illustrated by S.D. Schindler
• Animals That Build Their Homes by Robert McClung
• Sea Creatures Do Amazing Things by Arthur Myers

Eric Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab is a perfect introduction to sea creatures, in particular to hermit crabs and their propensity to inhabit the shells of other creatures to protect themselves. In the story, Hermit Crab goes through an entire year, each month looking for a bigger and more protective shell to live in.

Hermit crabs live on the ocean floor. Their skin is hard, except for the abdomen, which is soft. To protect this ‘soft spot’ the hermit crab borrows a shell and makes this its ‘house.’ Then only its face, feet and claws stick out from the shell. That way it can see, walk and catch its food. When a hermit crab is threatened, it withdraws into its shell until the danger has passed.

A House for Hermit Crab, Introduction

The genius of this picture book, aside from the illustrations which are luminous and colorful, like the ocean itself, is that instead of reciting dry facts about the hermit crab and and other sea creatures and their habits and habitats, Carle uses a story to create what is sometimes called a “living book.” Hermit Crab is personified. He thinks and talks and engages in negotiation with the sea anemones, starfish, corals, snails, sea urchins, and lanternfish that he meets, asking them them for the use or at least partial use of their shells or for directions to a new and more commodious home when he outgrows the current one.

This story about a particular hermit crab and his travels sticks in the mind much more readily than a book would that simply stated the facts. Hermit Crab becomes a character with whom we can identify and from whom we can learn. Some see a danger in this personification of animals as we teach children to impute to non-human creatures the desires and needs and thought processes that are peculiar to humans. However, this sort of story that engages the imagination and feelings of a child is just the right way to introduce children to the world that God has given to human beings to care for and to steward. We first come to love and feel for flowers, birds, bears, even hermit crabs, and then we can later learn more about how they should be cared for and how they actually differ from humans.

Megan McDonald’s Is This a House for Hermit Crab? is a more simple book than the Eric Carle title. In McDonald’s story Hermit Crab tries out several possible homes: a rock, a rusty tin can, a piece of driftwood, a plastic pail, a fishing net. Then, danger approaches in the guise of a pricklepine fish, and Hermit Crab finds just the right home and hiding place, just in time. S.D. Schlindler’s illustrations are more muted and pastel than Carle’s, but they, too, are infused with the colors of the seashore and its creatures. McDonald’s Hermit Crab doesn’t engage in any of the human activities of thinking and communicating that Carle’s does, so her story is a good contrast and accompaniment to the story in A House for Hermit Crab and a comparison of the two stories should create questions and and answers and a sense of wonder in relation to these fantastical creatures of the sea.

The other two titles listed above are more general books that show a variety of creatures, including crabs, and tell about their habitats and ways of building and finding homes in a more general, factual way. These books and others concerning marine biology and animal homes would be good follow-up titles for a child (or an adult) whose interest in these creatures has been piqued by Carle and McDonald and their stories. Living books lead to connections which lead to more books and to films and to real life experiences and to who knows where!