Rabbit and Robot and Ribbit

Rabbit & Robot

by Cece Bell

What happens when two friends suddenly become three?

Rabbit is excited. He is going to surprise his good friend Robot at home. DING DONG! When Robot opens the door, he is surprised. He wasn’t expecting Rabbit. In fact, he is already engrossed in a game of checkers with another friend, Ribbit. Now Rabbit is the one who is surprised, and a bit jealous. While Robot thinks everything Ribbit says is humorous, all Rabbit hears is "ribbit." And Ribbit eats flies with her popcorn. Gross! When Rabbit and Ribbit get mad because they both want to be Cowboy Jack Rabbit, Robot’s Emotion Decoder overheats, leaving him out of commission. Can Rabbit and Ribbit find a way to work together to revive their friend?

Genres: Friendship, Picture Books, Robots, Animals, Chapter Books, Childrens, Graphic Novels

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2016

About the author

I'm an author and an illustrator, and sadly not a jazz pianist. I live in an old church in the hills of Virginia with my husband, author Tom Angleberger. I work right next door in a new-ish barn. I've written and illustrated a bunch of books for kids and was lucky enough to get a Geisel Honor for one of 'em. If you want to know more about my hearing loss or my childhood (or both), check out my first graphic novel, El Deafo. It's only slightly fictionalized, honest! I'm at www.cecebell.com if you want to see more weird stuff.

Reviews

[Chris Cathcart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this as an early introduction to chapter books. My 2.5 year old kept up with the story, and I appreciated all the fun word play. The salesperson at my local children's bookstore recommended books from the "Sparks for new readers!" series and I'm excited to check out more titles.

[Michele Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great early chapter book series. Cece Bell does a great job writing these stories that will appeal to young readers.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rabbit surprises Robot with a visit, but it is Rabbit who is surprised when he finds out that Robot already has another visitor. Robot is in the middle of playing chess with Ribbit, a frog. Robot almost leaves, but Robot informs Rabbit that after the game they're going to watch Cowboy Jack Rabbit, Rabbit's favorite show. Rabbit stays but he's getting increasingly jealous of Ribbit's friendship with Robot. It's only a near catastrophe that helps Rabbit and Ribbit find some common ground.

A cute beginner chapter book about friendship, unfounded jealousy, and learning how to share friends.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still working out our library's coding system but Step 4 takes me about 10-20 minutes to read (entirely) to Miss 3, Step 5 takes 20-30 mins to read half the book, Step 6 takes 20 minutes to read aloud one chapter.

This has plenty of illustrations and in many ways is simply a longer picture book that's easy to read to interested pre-schoolers but more challenging for kids learning to read. It's not intentionally a phonics book but I did get tongue-tied occasionally over Robot, Ribbit and Rabbit. It's a nice book about friendship, sharing, jealousy, and gender (after all, girls can want to dress up as cowboy sheriffs too!).

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ribbit eats flies with her popcorn. And that's just one of the reasons why the three friendly-ish kids may have trouble getting along with each other.

Backing up, who are these three kids?
* Rabbit is a rabbit.
* Robot is a robot.
* While Ribbit is a frog.

Earlier it was simple: Rabbit and Robot were friends. But when Robot makes friends with Ribbit, however will Rabbit fit in now?

With their thin disguises as NOT young children, this story can become lighthearted, even comical. By the end, some apologies have been given. And there are always new games that this new threesome can play.

FIVE STARS for the text and illustrations by Cece Bell.

[Jill Culver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beginner chapter book. The book was a tongue twister of a read. I struggled very much to read this book, both in my head and out loud. The book is about three friends. Ribbit, a frog and a new friend, wants to spend time with Rabbit and Robot and Rabbit is upset. The three friends finally learn to get along and work things out. I was not a huge fan of this book, mostly because it was such a difficult read. I don’t plan to keep this book because although it is funny and cute It was a heck of a tongue twister to read which made it more difficult to read.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a little talk with Natalie surrounding this book. She said Rabbit should go home because Rabbit and Ribbit were too different. We got to talk about what they had in common and how they can both be friends with Robot.

The pun about the duck bill she liked, but it went right over William's head. Highlights the difference between 7 and 5.

[Donna Mork · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several short chapters. Rabbit visits robot and finds he has a frog friend named Ribbit already visiting. He is jealous until the robot says ribbit likes rabbit and thinks he's cute. They watch tv and then want to play the program that they watched. The two have an argument and it overheats the robot. They have to work together to get the robot back in working order. Now they are all friends.

[Denise Kettering · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute early chapter book about what happens when your friend makes a new friend. Rabbit visits Robot and finds that he is already playing with Ribbit. Rabbit has a hard time accepting their friendship, but ultimately the three find a way to play as friends. Fun illustrations accompany the text and the story has some funny jokes.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rabbit and Robot series is quite cute; addressing friendship and conflict in particular with Ribbit. Conflict with friends comes up all the time in Elementary School and this book could help students recognize that you can have more than one good friend at a time.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rabbit becomes jealous when his friend, Robot, has Frog as a friend too. This book is a reader but I think that the jokes will be lost on the intended audience, leaving the kids either bored or confused.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually kind of hated reading this, but I can see how it would work in the context it was created for. Lots of repetition, introduction of some harder words, illustrations show less of what's happening in the text than an easier leveled book would.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

AR 2.8 level

Rabbit surprises his friend robot with a visit. Much to Rabbit's surprise, Robot already has a friend over - Ribbit. Jealousy ensues but a tragic event brings Ribbit and Rabbit together on common ground. With only four chapters, this funny transitional chapter book is just the ticket for those wanting to dip their toes into the chapter book world.

[elstaffe]

The single greatest table of contents I've seen in a long time. The longer I looked at it, the more I kept giggling. Maybe it's just the day I've had. Cece Bell, I salute you and whoever was on your publishing team who allowed that to stay.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a tongue-twister! Between the character names and Ribbit only ever saying "ribbit" I was having trouble reading this aloud. Still, a good lesson on playing with others and handling jealousy.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I like the part when Rabbit watched Robot and Ribbit played checkers. I like checkers.

[Wendi Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute elementary level book about friendship and jealousy. Unfortunately, the kids were either too old or too young to fully enjoy it. My toddler did love the pictures, however.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robot almost self-destructs because two of its friends can't play well together. I think it would be easy to read?

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sooooo adorable!

[Tara Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute book. I loved the alliteration. This book would be appropriate for third graders and fourth graders. It’s too old for my preschooler.

[Corban · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because rabbit felt left out and then he felt in by the robot.

[Palwascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is a good introduction to chapter books. Loved the illustrations and liked the story.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 6yo and I enjoyed this book. Fun wordplay, perfect length and pacing, and a good story about handling friendship and big feelings.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do like the new vocabulary opportunities this provides for readers. I did not enjoy this as much as the first installment. I didn't find the character's attitudes to be very well written.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Ribbit best!

[Chris Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid addition by Cece. I feel the best part of this book is one of the characters is fallible and the word jealousy is used to describe it. What makes the story real is the conflict that leads to misunderstanding is communication. This type of plot resonates with students and opens the doors for discussion and experiences.

[Cristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Robot and his friend Rabbit. Rabbit decides to surprise Robot, but ends up being the one surprised when he finds out that Robot has Ribbit there and they are in the middle of a Chess game. This is a great story about friendship and learning to share. The author does a great job of showing emotions that kids can relate to. I would recommend this for any collection looking for ways to teach kids that it is okay to have more than one friend and how to share.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are perfect early chapter books. They are humorous and teach social skills at the same time. I wish there were more than 2 in the series. My 7 and 5 year old were both entertained.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful story with a unique twist in just 4 chapters.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technically, this book doesn't come out until tomorrow but Amazon delivered my pre-order a day early! Oopsy on them. Awesome for me!

My daughters absolutely loved Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover where Rabbit and Robot have a sleepover where they make pizza, watch TV, play Go Fish and go to bed. So I had to pre-order this book. I haven't read it to them yet but I read it myself already and I love it. We just read the Elephant and Piggie book, My New Friend is So Fun! last night and this book makes a really good companion to that as it deals with similar themes.

Rabbit comes over to Robot's house only to find that Robot already has a friend over: Ribbit (a frog, obviously). And all Ribbit says is, "Ribbit" Robot has a frog translation program but Rabbit doesn't understand a word and feels left out. Soon he is overwhelmed by jealousy which has bad consequences for poor Robot.

I think this will resound well with young children because they often get jealous when their friends make a new friend, which makes them feel left out.