Doug unplugs on the farm

Doug and his robot parents return, this time on their way to visit the grandbots until their car is forced into a ditch by a flock of errant sheep. Plugged in Doug, who is learning online during the drive, unplugs to help a distressed farm girl contain the sheep. He also helps with her other chores milking cows, gathering eggs, and watering the stinky pigs, giving actual experience to his vicarious online ones, while his parents try to figure out the car problem. But it is Doug who saves the day when he realizes that a horse that can pull a plow can also rescue their car from the ditch. It does, and they are on the way to the grandbots. The illustrations, simple shapings in pure, rich colors, were created with brush-and-ink and Adobe Photoshop. They successfully blend the traditional farm scenes with the more futuristic robots, proving that there is room on the farm for a hardworking, curious robot boy. A welcome addition to a new series.--Edmundson, Martha Copyright 2014 Booklist

PreS-Gr 2-Dan Yaccarino's robot boy, Doug, is back in a new adventure. This time, he and his robot parents are driving to visit the grandbots on the farm, and Doug is plugged in to download information all about farms. However, an accident gives him the chance to unplug and apply his knowledge, and he discovers the real world has much more to offer than dry facts. Doug even gets a chance to solve a problem using what he knows. Yaccarino's uncluttered digital illustrations are simply animated as Chris Patton reads Yaccarino's uncomplicated text (Knopf, 2014) with a clear and gentle voice. Beginning readers will love Doug and hope that he has more delightful adventures to share with them.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.