Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

In Boy and Bot, Ame Dyckman’s sweet and playful tale, with deceptively simple gouache illustrations by Dan Yaccarino, a nameless boy is collecting pine cones in his red wagon when he meets a robot. "Want to play?" the boy asks, to which the robot, quite naturally, replies, "Affirmative!"

Boy and robot, who looks like the Tin Man crossed with a squat red rocket ship, gambol about outside until the robot mysteriously stops functioning. Unable to revive the bot, the boy brings him home to offer him care. Later, when the boy goes to bed, the robot (easily revived, it turns out, with the flip of a switch) is shocked to find the boy now malfunctioning (asleep).

The trouble, of course, is a failure in communication, perhaps inevitable, between man and machine. But this is easily remedied, and the two friends reconvene for further play dates. Boy affixes a drawing of Bot to the refrigerator; Bot sticks a picture of Boy on his torso. Boy sips chocolate milk from a straw; Bot chugs oil from the nozzle of a can. It’s a perfectly adorable, age-appropriate friendship. And it’s simply impossible to imagine a 4-year-old boy not wanting to be friends with this book.