Bye-bye, Woolly Bully!: Wodney Wat's Wobot by Helen Lester

IT WAS WODNEY WAT'S BIRTHDAY.

"WHAT A TEWIFIC PWESENT! WHAT IS IT?"

HIS FRIENDS HOPPED UP AND DOWN.

"IT'S A ROBOT. SEE THAT BUTTON ON ITS NOSE?" SAID GRIZZLEFRIZ GUINEA PIG.

Rodney Rat, who still can't quite articulate his Rs,, discovers that his new robot is more than a toy: it can repeat anything he whispers to it--with perfect pronunciation. In the school cafeteria the next day, he whispers the twying phwase, er, trying phrase, "May I have some wibs and wice?" which the robot articulates expertly as

"MAY I HAVE SOME RIBS AND RICE?"

It seems that Wodney now has the puhfect, er, perfect speech coach wherever he goes and he is one ecstatic rodent:

"I AM HAVING A BAWWEL OF FUN!" GIGGLED WODNEY.

But then, things in the schoolroom take an unfortunate turn:

"HOWDY, PARTNERS! I'M BAAAAAACK!" THUNDERED CAMILLA CAPYBARA, AS SHE BURST INTO THE CLASSROOM.

Camilla is the giant capybara, former overwhelming bully of Miss Fuzzleworth's class, whom all the little rodents had believed that Wodney had earlier banished for good.

Camilla proceeds to intimidate the whole class, including their teacher, with her enormous size and her even bigger putdowns, until it's time for Wodney to answer a geography question.

"WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD?"

WODNEY PUSHED HIS ROBOT'S BUTTON AND WHISPERED, "wound."

R... R...R.... R....R....R....

A weak battery in his robot seems to produce a stuttering sound with a magical power over Camilla. Growls are the only things that can scare the world's biggest rodent, because they can only mean one thing, even bigger things like grizzlies or tigers and... YIKES!

Wodney's control of his robot has the desired effect and Camilla Capybara RRRROLLS out the classroom door, this time, the class hopes, for good.

It's "HOOWAY FOR WODNEY WAT!" all over again for Helen Lester's and Lynn Munsinger's wonderful hewo, er, hero, in their latest collaboration, Wodney Wat's Wobot (Houghton Mifflin, 2011), and kids will love to see little Wodney once more save the day despite, or weally, because of his speech pwoblem. Every class has its Camilla Capybara from time to time, and it is always fun to see the littlest hero vanquish a big bully. Read this ebullient little tale with its award-winning predecessor, Hooway for Wodney Wat book and CD for a kid-pleasing, rib-tickling pair of trickster tales.