Rabbit has a plan for his sleepover with his friend Robot: make pizza, watch TV, play Go Fish and then go to bed. Simple? Not so much. Rabbit likes to be in control. He has a hard time dealing with bumps in the road, but easy going Robot usually has the answers. Author, Cece Bell, has written a humorous story about two very different friends in Robot & Rabbit The Sleepover, a 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book.
Rabbit has all the fixings for pizza: carrots, lettuce and snow peas. Turns out Robot prefers nuts, bolts and screws. Did Rabbit have any? No, he did not. Using his magnetic hands, Robot searches for some hardware and finds it in the kitchen table and chairs. He disassembles the table and chairs for the nuts, bolts and screws to put on his pizza. Rabbit is alarmed. Where are we to eat our pizza? Rabbit runs around yelling and throwing things, while Robot prepared the pizzas and put them in the oven. He turned up his volume and got Rabbit’s attention. He asked for a blanket and they had a pizza picnic and Rabbit crossed “make pizza” off his list.
Each item on Rabbit’s list has its own chapter. How hard is watching TV? Pretty hard if you can’t find the remote. Again, Rabbit sort of freaks out and robot has the solution. They enjoy their program and then go to item three on Rabbit’s list. Robot reluctantly agrees to play Go Fish but he’d rather play Old Maid or Crazy Eights. Soon Robot is tired, very tired. It is not time to go to bed, they haven’t played Go Fish yet. Rabbit tries to wake his friend, but nothing works. He finally sees a thin strip of paper coming from a small slot on Robot’s front, it said BATTERIES LOW. Rabbit knew what to do. He replaced the old batteries in Robot with the new batteries from the remote. They played Go Fish and even Old Maid. Soon it was time to go to bed, but Robot forgot his pajamas. Rabbit lent him a pair and they went to bed. Rabbit was sleepy but newly energized Robot was not. Now it was Robot’s turn to make a list of the fun things they DID that night. They both agreed it was a good day. And maybe, just maybe, Robot can plan the next day’s activities.
There seemed to a bit of a theme in the books that were honored by the Theodor Seuss Geisel committee this year: don’t sweat the small stuff! Rabbit and Robot have a great sleepover even though nothing went as Rabbit planned it. Gerald and Piggie gather all the items they might need to take a drive except for the one essential for a drive: a car. They change plans and use all the gear to play Pirates instead. Does Pete the Cat cry when he loses each of his four groovy buttons? Goodness, no!
The Sonoma County Library has several copies.
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