Ban the Bot? Ray Bot by Adam F. Watkins

THIS IS RAYBOT.

HE LIVES ALL ALONE IN A JUNKYARD AND DOESN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS.

Poor lonely Raybot lives in his very own rust belt. With not a pal in sight, Ray is forced to play both sides of his castoff checker board.

Poking around the place, he notices a handbill with a slogan that intrigues him:

Your puppy deserves the best, because he's your best friend.

BARK! BARK!

Raybot sets out of his junkyard into the wide world. If he can just find a puppy who says "Bark! Bark!" he will have a best friend. All he has to do is find him.

But as Raybot learns, there are a lot of creatures in the wide world. The first two he meets are quite friendly, but one goes BAA! and the other says BAWK BAWK!

Close, but no BARK BARK!

As Raybot wanders the world, he finds many amiable critters, who moo and oink, quack and growl. A hippo huffs out his HU-HU-HUURUUGH!  A monkey comes out with a spirited OOO-OOO-AH-AH and a snake has nothing more friendly to say than a hisssssss!

Raybot continues his globe-trotting, and finally finds himself in a rain forest. He spots a gorgeous parrot and tries his hopeful greeting:

BARK??

And at last he hears what he has been hoping for:

BARK!

A puppy! A best friend at last!

And ironically, with his best friend "puppy" on his shoulder, Raybot meets up with an equally friendly critter who says "WOOF!"

Friends come in all shapes and voices, in Adam F. Watkins' latest, Raybot (Price Stern and Sloan Books, 2016), a promising premise, and a plot that helps youngsters learn to recognize animals and animal sounds along the way. Watkins portrays his charming little Raybot and his potential animal friends with jolly verve, and preschoolers will chuckle at his adoption of a parrot who just happens to be able to sound like a puppy. Pair this one with Watkins' earlier R Is for Robot: A Noisy Alphabet.