I need two ratings for the book, Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot. One rating for me and one for the readers it is aimed at. My rating is a 2 as I did not care for things. There was nothing that was “exciting” to me personally. The illustrations were the bright spot as they are bold and well colored, but not overly detailed so they do not distract from the story but support it. However, if I was recommending to younger readers (as young as five or six to about eight or nine) I would be at least 3 which means that I liked it, I think you would like it but it is not going to be my first choice. Now readers would go as high as a five because they are not as picky about things as I am.
Therefore, it was a 2.5. However, the ages it is for will laugh so hard you’ll have to pick them up off the floor. My (adult, but special needs nephew) liked it but was not over the moon. There was action, humor and fun for the traditional reader, but he was not as engaged as I thought. He liked the robot (big hit) and the “fight” at the end of the book with the lizard (I thought it as a crocodile or alligator), but since the book had been read a lot and beaten up (it was a paperback library copy) we couldn’t do the flip book part at the end. I think had we done that he’d have flipped, too!
Things are easy for that early reader or listener in this first book in the series by Dav Pilkey and illustrated by Dan Santat. It is clever in its own ways and therefore I say run out and get the series for your child if they are an early reader, or like a cartoon-like setting for a story.