Buzzy Widget [Hardcover]

Kevin Kiser (Author), John O'Brien (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

Buzzy Widget builds robots to do his cooking and cleaning but still finds there is something missing in his life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this dubious romantic comedy, inventor Buzzy Widget wakes up "with the feeling that something [is] missing." His neighbor, Miss Jane, suggests that Buzzy needs help around the house, and he couldn't agree more. He gets to work on a robotic CHEF ("Cooks Healthy Edible Food") and later a MAID ("Maintenance Activities Including Dishwashing"). Miss Jane tries a literal approach, saying, "What you need is someone to help you with EVERYTHING in your life, you need a partner... a wife." Buzzy compliantly builds "Widget's Invention For Everything" (WIFE), which supplants the CHEF and MAID: "It made Buzzy's bed. It washed his dishes. It vacuumed and dusted and polished until the house was spotlessly clean. Then it made dinner." Still, Buzzy isn't content until Jane persuades him to tie the knot. Kiser's (Sherman the Sheep) tale operates on dated definitions of a wife. Jane dutifully volunteers to perform chores, even though Buzzy himself never dreams of putting a human to work. In ink and watercolor images, busy with curving lines and webs of intricate crosshatching, O'Brien (Poof!, reviewed above) paints a more evolved portrait of marriage. He casts Jane as a self-sufficient beekeeper and Buzzy as a packrat whose yard is strewn with weird assemblages; the final illustration shows the newlyweds relaxing while a robot dog grills burgers. Still, the cozy conclusion doesn't eliminate stereotypes that seem borrowed from a 1950s sitcom. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-Buzzy is a compulsive engineering and recycling genius who is pathetically thickheaded in his interpersonal relationships. His neighbor, beekeeper Miss Jane, drops hints about what might be missing from his subperfect life. Buzzy, of course, misinterprets Jane's proposals as mandates to create mechanical helpmates: CHEF (Cooks Healthy Edible Food); MAID (Maintenance Activities Including Dishwashing); and a WIFE (Widget's Invention For Everything), who sports pot-holder hands and a mop-head ponytail. The WIFE, not surprisingly, turns out to be a willful combination of the CHEF and the MAID. O'Brien's ink-hatched watercolors are busy and feature Inspector Gadget-like robots that will force a sexist chuckle or two, particularly when the WIFE hangs the goldfish on the line to dry or tightly tucks "master" Buzzy into bed. Nor will the perpetually veiled Jane appease feminist hearts with her saintly patience in courting this selfish and lazy inventor.
John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761450572
• ISBN-13: 978-0761450573
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,091,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Baffled Buzzy, May 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Buzzy Widget (Hardcover)

Buzzy thinks he can invent everything in life including a maid. He can't quite figure out why things just aren't right in his life. His neighbor keeps giving him clues but he just doesn't get it. Finally she convinces him that it is her that he needs and the book ends happily ever after.