MAMA ROBOT

Weary of never seeing his working mother after school, a lad imagines building a robotic parent who would make all his favorite foods, do his homework, never tell him to brush and would take care of the odd bully or obnoxious neighbor to boot. In Cantone’s scribbly, amusing illustrations, both child and barrel-shaped metal mother sport big fixed grins as they scoot through a set of skewed-perspective settings, leaving trails of bric-a-brac and startled passersby. “Mom” resembles an oversized canister vacuum cleaner with flexible pipe for limbs and, oddly, coffee cups for breasts. It all sounds pretty ideal—but in the end, realizing that robots aren’t soft or nice smelling, and can’t supply cuddles, the young inventor goes for a robot dog instead. Good choice, kid. (Picture book. 6-8)