A Day With Wilbur Robinson

This is a wonderful science fiction book. It holds many new inventions and crazy characters that keep the plot moving on the quest to find grandfather's teeth. The main character, Wilbur, tells this story and the grand excitment and fun that comes from visiting the Robinsons.

This is a great example of science fiction because it takes place in a nonexistent world, where crazy occurrences usually related to science happen, such as larger than life toy train sets, brain augmentors that help create deep thoughts, and cannons that blast fathers.
This story is set in an

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unreal world, where strange experiences are normal. The story is too short to otherwise critique the setting, plot, or characters.

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A fun fantasy, this book combines fanciful ideas with bright cheerful illustrations. Along with wacky family members Wilbur is surrounded by fascinating creatures and inventions. A fun trip into a fantasy world--I think every person would love to have a friend like Wilbur Robinson with whom they

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could spend the day. A fun writing assignment might be to create a new aunt or uncle for Wilbur's family tree and detail their unique qualities.

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The Robinson's have all sorts of amazing family members. An uncle who shoots from a cannon, a dad who is always searching for things with his matter detector, and dancing frogs are all over the place! When Wilbur's best friend comes to visit, there seems to be nothing exciting going on, but quickly

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an adventure unfolds and the two boys are sent on a mission to search for Wilbur's grandpa and his false teeth. Everyone in the house tries to find them, even Wilbur's uncle who has just returned from outer space. Finally, after no lucky, the boys find grandfather working with this dancing frog band. The teeth are still lost until the family is gathered singing songs and one of the dancing frogs starts dancing with teeth in his mouth!

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Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this book, but I know that young children love it. It follows two best friends on a hunt to find grandfather Robinson's false teeth. The Robinson's house is filled with strange and wonderful things from an octopus as a door man to an uncle who travels to outer

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space. It is fun to read to children because they love to talk about the strange things they see in the illustrations.

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It was nice to read the story that Meet the Robinsons was born from. I love that movie and it's interesting to see where all the thinking for the story must have come from. The cast and plot aren't the same, but there are plenty of parallels between the two. It was a fun story in general.

There were a few classes that I took as a Library Sciences major that really stuck with me. One was Reader's Advisory (how to help someone choose a book...sound familiar?) and the other was Children's Literature. As you already know, I absolutely love children's literature. However, I was led to

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believe that as an adult my enjoyment of picture books was over. WRONG! Some of the best picture books are the best because they appeal to all ages. I'm giving all of this backstory because today's review is of a picture book entitled A Day With Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce. When I discovered that one of my favorite animated movies (yes, those are for all ages as well), Meet the Robinsons, was actually adapted from a book...well I went and picked it up at the library, didn't I? The story is all about one magical day at the homestead of the Robinson family while they search for Grandfather's false teeth. Each member of the brood is more fantastical than the last and yet Wilbur claims that it's "dull". However, it's the artwork that brings it all together. Joyce's style evokes a 1950's vibe that is playful and still somewhat realistic. (I definitely believed the octopus butler real.) He considers his works to be "alarmingly optimistic" and I'd have to agree. (Remember the film Robots? He produced and designed it.) It's a fun read that I think anyone of any age would enjoy. 10/10

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The young boy-narrator of this fantastical picture-book adventure details his day at the home of his best friend, Wilbur Robinson. An eccentric family with many astonishing hobbies, not to mention some unusual servants (ranging from an octopus to a robot), the Robinsons and their home provide a day

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of unusual experiences to the boy. As they hunt for Grandfather Robinson's fake teeth, not to mention Grandfather Robinson himself, the boy and his friend meet various members of the clan, each of whom is engaged in an amazing and somewhat peculiar activity. There's never a dull moment, when spending the day with Wilbur Robinson!

Apparently made into an animated film by Disney - it was titled "Meet the Robinsons" in movie form - A Day With Wilbur Robinson is an entertaining picture-book romp. I enjoyed many of the little details here - the octopus doorman, the fact that Grandfather Robinson is collaborating with Ellington and Armstrong while working with his dancing-frog band - and found the artwork, created in oil and acrylic, just lovely. That said, I did have the feeling, as I read along, that there was too much being thrown together, too many madcap elements - things astonishing! amazing! unusual! - for it all to fit together in one organic whole. There were so many things - the dinosaurs who hang out at the pool, for instance, having come through the Time Door - that would have made more of an impact, if they had been more fully explored. Somehow, this one felt almost like a tour of story ideas, rather than a story in its own right. Maybe that was the intention? A day spent at a location full of magical things, each one only glimpsed briefly? Whatever the case may be, the overall effect for me was somewhat jumbled. Tastes vary, of course, so others might not have the same impression, and the illustrations (as mentioned) are very appealing. Recommended to William Joyce fans, or to those looking for picture-book fantasy fiction.

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