Roberto

July 31, 2000
This good-natured tale, whose striking collages incorporate wood products and city photographs, introduces a termite who "went against the grain.... Roberto didn't eat his food. He played with it." While other termites picnic on "wood chips" and shotgun shacks, Roberto yearns to build with boards. He also exhibits a philanthropic streak. His first project is a neighborhood for homeless bugs, including a fireproof stone dwelling for a ladybug whose first house, per the nursery rhyme, burned down. Laden (When Pigasso Met Mootisse) wittily imagines a termite with a social conscience, one who ensures that bedbugs have "their very own beds." She incorporates woodworking tools into her bug-themed spreads and creates furniture from carefully cropped pieces of cork and veneer. Ant-like Roberto hunches over a mahogany-brown drafting table, busily drawing blueprints for a milk-carton shelter and a conical hive with neat circular windows. Even if children don't get the gags about Hank Floyd Mite (seated at a Guggenheim-shaped desk with a sketch of Fallingwater) and Fleas Van Der Rohe, nonstop insect quips and humorous bug house illustrations keep this book buzzing along. Ages 2-6.

November 15, 2000
Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. While playing with his wood-chip dinner, prodigy termite Roberto dreams of being an architect. He moves to the city, where he tries to find a job with famous designers but all reject him. Wandering home, he meets swarms of disenfranchised, homeless bugs, and he decides to build a community for them. Planning and building the entire project himself, Roberto creates a sensation even before his identity is revealed, and once the secret is out, he becomes a legend. The lively text is filled with challenging words and some fun puns, although many of them, like the hilarious Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas Van Der Rohe, will be beyond the youngest readers. It's the elaborate, whimsical collages that are exceptional here. Nearly bursting from the pages, they combine painted, drawn, and photographed images in spreads that perfectly capture the energy of the city and the creative excitement of architecture, as well as irresistibly expressive bug characters. An architectural fantasy picture book for children who dream of building.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)