House of Robots

 Sammy is a pretty average kid. He and his best friend, Trip, mostly avoid trouble at school by not drawing any attention to themselves. All that changes when Sammy's mom introduces them to her newest robot, E. E will be attending school with Sammy from now on and E's first day at school is awful. E takes over every class and starts a food fight at lunchtime, which completely embarrasses Sammy. After the principal declares that E is not ready to attend school, Sammy thinks he's in the clear but that turns out to be false.

 

 After a little work over the weekend and a stressful time brought about by Maddie having to go into the hospital at the same time, E heads back to school with some adjustments. Sammy is less than thrilled, but it quickly becomes clear that not only is E going to fit in, but he is going to be popular ... and Sammy becomes popular by extension.

 

This is a quick and fun read that kids are going to love. Like many of Patterson's kids books, it combines words and images to terrific effect. The relationships between Sammy and his family were carefully constructed and felt "real". Sammy's relationship to his sister is particularly touching. The book also does a great job of taking on the issue of bullying while also being highly entertaining. Kids will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to find out what happens next to Sammy, E and the Hayes-Rodriguez family.