Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter [Hardcover]

Timothy Bush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1998 | Age Level: 5 and up

"Drawing or writing, Bush's pen is loaded with wit."

Welcome to the spaceship home of Benjamin McFadden--where tennis is played in spacesuits, books are read in zero gravity, and robot babysitters have eight arms and are preprogrammed to send you to bed at 8:00 p.m. sharp. But the night his parents go to the Rings of Saturn Preservation Dance, Benjamin McFadden isn't ready for bed. Taking matters into his own hands, he reprograms Babysitter, and his own private party is soon underway--until Benjamin is finally ready to rest. The only hitch? Now Babysitter wants to party, and Benjamin must stop the festivities before his parents get home. Timothy Bush takes fun and multiplies it by a million in his most far-out book to date, filling it with fanciful illustrations and a story meant especially for fans who thirst for adventure!  

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Kids hate it when they're left alone with a Robot Babysitter. And why wouldn't they? You can't argue with a computer program that tells you 8:00 Earth time is bedtime... and then at 8:15 reports that you are in violation of your scheduled routine. "The trouble with you, Babysitter, is that you are no fun," complains young Benjamin McFadden. "I'm not programmed for fun," Babysitter answers. So, Benjamin opens up the forbidden panel on Babysitter's back and programs it for fun. Games! Books! Music! Cookies! Fun is had, but when Benjamin gets tired, the robot does not. Much to Benjamin's horror, Babysitter has become an out-of-control fun machine, wreaking complete havoc on the household as the pages explode with flying basketballs, jogging dice, rolling cups of cocoa, and cavorting chess pieces. Desperate, he calls the Babysitter Help Line, and is told that he must use the Ultimate Password to get his dear old boring Babysitter back. What is the Ultimate Password? Luckily, Benjamin figures it out before his parents get home. Kids will like poring over the comical details in Timothy Bush's artful depictions of a futuristic Jetsons-style home, and will easily relate to familiar babysitter-related sentiments and scenarios. An interplanetary robot romp! (Ages 5 and older) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-When Benjamin's parents go out and leave him in the care of his robot Babysitter, the mischievous boy becomes bored with its rigid ways and reprograms it for "fun." Things get quickly out of hand, and Benjamin is in for more "fun" than he can handle. Bush attempts to dazzle his audience by fusing a futuristic vision with a story about the impertinence of the young. What he achieves is little more than a shallow, space-age adaptation of The Cat in the Hat in which lyrical phraseology is replaced by choppy sentences that don't flow well. The illustrations are lively, busy, and entertaining, but the one-dimensional characters and plot flatten the story's effect. As our hero stumbles onto the answer to the problem he has created, readers will find the all-too-easy ending contrived and unsatisfying.
Christie J. Flynn, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (November 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517799847
• ISBN-13: 978-0517799840
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is rad, dude, February 28, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter (Hardcover)

Benjamin Mc Fadden and the robot baby sitter are by Timothy Bush. Timothy Bush is a great writer and a good illustrator too. This book is great, it's funny and it's good for a bedtime story for kids the age of 3 to 13. Benjamin is a stubborn boy when it comes to bedtime. The book is about a robot baby sitter that's mean. Benjamin reprograms the robot to be fun. The baby sitter reprograms the other robots to be fun too. Then it gets out of control. Then Benjamin says the password, it's pa... sorry you will have to read the book.

I like the end when Benjamin said " What a weird night. " and Fantastic (the robot cat) said something really funny. Then Benjamin looks like the book is going to happen all over again. I recommend this book to Kindergartners though 6th graders because every one can enjoy it. I think 7th graders won't read it because it's too easy to them.

By the way this book takes place in outer space, you can tell from the illustrations.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Jetsons Meet The Sorcerer's Apprentice, October 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter (Hardcover)

Technology goes haywire when the Robot Babysitter is programed for FUN! This is one of my favorite books to read aloud to children and to give as gifts to youngsters to share with their "Ultimate Passwords."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Fun, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter (Hardcover)

My four-year old and I love this book. It is fun to read it aloud using a robot's voice for the part of the robot babysitter. We highly recommend it!