Brobot by James Foley

Sally Tinker is the world's foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and she just knows she can build a better brother than the messy, smelly version she has. Sally's invention - Brobot - is fantastic, until the remote breaks and Brobot careens out of control. Sally realises that maybe there's more to a sibling than just inconveniences.

One of the most popular activities I did during my face-to-face teaching days was to share Shel Silverstein's poem, Sister for Sale and get students to not only create an advertisement to sell their sibling - ensuring they pointed out all the good things so it would seem like an attractive buy - but also to then advertise for a new one. They had to consider what would be the essentials, non-negotiables and compromises they would accept and were often surprised to discover that what they wanted was what they already had!

The premise of this graphic novel for independent readers is somewhat similar - students could design their own brobot (or sisbot) using either their imaginations or  the activity sheet, perhaps discovering, as Sally did, that their relationships with their siblings is deeper and more important than they thought.

Themes: Inventions, Humour.

Barbara Braxton