Whirby
Molly Harris and Jacob Souva
Harper 360

Robot, Whirby, loves school where he excels in such subjects as magnetics, circuitry and tinkering (I love the descriptive alliterations used) but his favourite subject is gadgeteering because this provides opportunities to engage in ‘bot battles’ with other students.

One night so excited is Wirby about the prospect of the next day’s battling tournament that he stays awake the whole time practising, rather than climbing onto his charging base for a battery recharge. The following morning he feels less that 100 percent: his gears feel gritty, his buttons ‘busted’ and his cranks ‘extra cranky’. Worse is to follow.

At school Whirby starts to malfunction

and by the time it’s his turn in the sporting ring, his battery is completely flat making him ‘officially wiped out’. His teacher, Dr. Whizzbang sends him back home to recover and recharge.

Devastated at his lost opportunity, that night Whirby focuses on his body and realises that something needs to be changed. He codes a new sequence to follow each night

and makes sure he sleeps properly so that when asked again by Dr Whizzbang if he’s ready for a rematch, a fully charged Whirby should be all systems go against Dottie the Destroyer.

Weaving technical vocabulary into the narrative, Molly Harris’s story reads aloud well and with Jacob Souva’s striking illustrations, makes for a fun book that reminds young readers about the dangers of over-exertion both physical or mental.