Probably nearer 3.5 stars. Not a bad book but not as 3 year old friendly as some of the other "Harry" books. Got a little dark with Nan being taken off in an ambulance in the middle of the night. But the robot fun was good. A great series.
My nephew loves robots and therefore he loves this book. This is about a boy using his gift of making robots to help his grandmother feel better. There is a sweetness in this book. He loves the pictures and story.
Extremely well written and beautifully illustrated, this story takes us into the world of Harry. Harry's robot goes into hospital to get fixed, so his grandmother and himself decide to make their own robot. But Harry's grandmother soon falls ill herself and is admitted into hospital! However, Harry finds ways to make his grandmother feel better, he starts to make some robots to help look after her. He takes the robots into the hospital to visit her, she is so happy when she sees him, that she soon feels better!
An excellent story book for KS1, as you can use it in Literacy lessons for 2 week plans including; shared writing, role play, drama and character profiles. Cross curricular link with Design and Technology as the children can have a go at making their own robots!
This book is likely aimed at YrR - Yr1. It is a beautiful and creative way of explaining illness to young children through Harry's sick robot and his sick Gran. It also explores the way older siblings or parents might react to stressful/sad situations and how they are viewed from a child's perspective. Whilst Harry waits for his sick robot to come back from the Robot hospital, he creates several new robots with colouring, cutting and sticking. He then puts the robots round Gran's hospital bed to protect her. It is a beautifully illustrated and written book.
The smallest member of the household has read a different story about this character so was excited to borrow this from the library. The child is fond of robots and cute things so there was no doubt that the child would enjoy this story. The favourite robot was the one with made out of half a soccer ball.
I didn't expect to be affected by the story - my own fault for not reading the blurb at the back. Be aware that although the focus of the story is around building cute robots, the story also involves the protagonist's grandmother becoming ill.
Some books like to claim they are toddler friendly,but not. A 3 year old will be able to follow the illustrations and get sort of a concept about what the story is about, but if you are reading to them then, its difficult for them to follow the story because of the complexity of the sentences. It would be easier if authors can keep it simple.
Miss 2 loves Harry & the Dinosaurs but didn't like this one. It is a bit more upsetting since Nan gets sick and needs to go to hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night. Harry makes robots to help protect her and fight off what's making her sick.
This is a great book to introduce the notion of hospitals to kids. I loved how creative Harry is, and how a bad day when everyone's upset is equated with spending more time in front of the telly.
Another solid book in the Harry and the... series. A word of warning - this book features a storyline about an ill grandmother which may be triggering.
This was my oldest son's favorite book, and I don't blame him. It's just a whole heck of a lot of fun.
The illustrations are spot-on perfect for youngsters ... a blend of realistic and yet style as though drawn from a youngsters pen.
The robots are so right. When Sammy makes his own, from a collection of miscellaneous art supplies from around the house, they look just like the kinds of things my boys make ... pipe-cleaners and foam and construction paper and tape.
The story seems simple yet has a depth to it that does strike a youngster. Kids understand about grandparents getting sick. They understand about those feelings of being just not quite right and angry for strange reasons, but that they can't explain.
This book is just perfect. Highly recommended. (We just can't figure out why other books which appear to have the same character are called "Harry and ____" instead of "Sammy and ______.")
The artwork was colorful. The only problem I had with it is that the Mother looks too young and does not dress very motherly----this book was read aloud and my daughter thought the mother was Sammy's sister. I did, too. The story is about Sammy and his robot. When his robot breaks, his Gran sends it to get fixed. In the meanwhile, Sammy and Gran are supposed to make a robot, but Gran ends up getting sick and being hospitalized. It gets pretty sad for a few pages. The story was going well, Sammy is able to make his robot, but then, it jumps to them in the hospital. We had to back track and make sure no pages were missing. Sammy ends up visiting his Gran in her hospital when everyone gets distracted. He takes her a bunch of robots, which the doctor says is just fine. Gran gets better, goes home, Sammy's robot comes back from the shop and all ends well. This is an AR 2.6 level book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My younger son loved this when he was in Kindergarten. I read it to his class that year, and they all seemed to like it. My husband remembers the robot saying, "Blast", and that Sammy blasted his grandma's cough away.
Note from 5/12/2013:
After watching the Kristen Wiig "You're on Blast" skit with my sons (now 12 & 15) on SNL last night, I woke up thinking about this book. :)
At two, Henry loves this one very much. When Nan goes into hospital, Harry makes a robot to blast her cough away. Henry tells us about this special blasting robot quite often.
Interesting that it was originally 'Sammy and the Robots' - its obviously been re-illustrated since. Sometimes the robots are visible in other Harry books too.
I like this book on robots. It could be used for a science lesson on machines. Also used as a Language Arts lesson about the word, Blast. What words does it rhyme with? Is it a noun? What about a verb?
Sammy and the Robots is such a cute story involving a boy, his Gran and quite a few robots. Next time I get sick, I'm going to make a robot to BLAST away my cough. =)