BITTY BOT'S BIG BEACH GETAWAY

Bitty Bot is back in this beachside companion to his previous, eponymous interstellar adventure (2016).

“At the beach in Botco Bay, / robots love to splash and play.” But not Bitty Bot—the little robot would rather skip the heat and sand and play back home in Robot City. Bitty’s not afraid of water (that’s what “rustproof robot oil” is for); it’s just that there’s no one to play with. Things start to look up when Bitty spots two other unhappy young bots, Clank and Smitty. Bitty mobilizes the pair—along with Bitty’s trusty robot-dog and a very amiable crab—to build a submarine for undersea exploration. On its maiden voyage the group sees stingrays, mermaids, giant squids….But when the sub springs a leak, will the quartet make it back to the surface? The cast of characters includes robots of different body types and colors. (Eyelashes suggest gender; none of the three child bots sport them, however.) Unlike the robots, the mermaids (buxom and purple) look mostly homogenous. The parent bots are eerily cheery, unfazed by their children’s exploits—possibly suggesting that the children’s travels were just make-believe. The rhyming couplets sustain a jaunty pace and playfulness that neatly match the almost-giddy art style. The warm color palette of the beach and the contrasting cool tones of the robots and underwater scenery make this a good choice for group sharing in storytime.

A delightful sea-quel.