B is really into robots lately, and I thought it would be fun to share her favorite books that feature robots or have exciting robot-related scenes.

• The Robot and the Bluebird (written and illustrated by David Lucas) This is a sweet story that takes on some heavy topics: love, sacrifice and even death. Spoiler alert: The bird comes out ok at the end, the robot not so much. The quirky drawings are wonderful, and honestly I think David Lucas is physically incapable of creating a book that’s not great.

• Boy + Bot (written by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino) We picked this up at the library a couple weeks ago and it’s still B’s dinner time favorite. The boy and the robot meet in the forest and start a friendship that’s briefly interrupted by a couple cute misunderstandings. Now whenever I ask B if she likes this book she smiles and says in a slow monotone: “Affirmative.”

• Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy (written by Jacky Davis, illustrated by David Soman) This is our go-to bedtime book and it’s got Ladybug Girl playing Bug Squad at the playground with her new friend Sam. B loves when they pretend the tire swing is a mean robot and Lulu jumps on its head. And the other day at the playground we almost convinced a real boy to play Ladybug Bug girl with us! He wanted to be Mosquito Boy until his friend pulled him back to playing Ninjas.

• Just Go to Bed (written and illustrated by Mercer Mayer) The Critter books are like cheese sandwiches–they aren’t the most creative stories, but they are consistently good. I might appreciate this one more than the girls because we live it almost every night. Critter keeps coming up with excuses for not going to bed while his parents play along but get more and more exasperated. At one point Critter is a space cadet and Dad (the giant robot) captures him. If only that were the end of the story.