Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, a hybrid Graphic Novel by Dav Pilkey and Dan Santat

Rating: My bookshelf

Reading Level: Early Elementary

I don’t like many of Dav Pilkey’s books but this one has a lot of good characteristics.

Possible Concerns:

• Typical superhero story violence.
• Typical superhero sci-fi. For example, the villain gives “hate juice” to a pet lizard, which immediately grows into a horrible monster. A robot disobeys orders because it has a conscience.
• Ricky experiences bullying. Eventually the bullies stop because they are afraid of Ricky’s robot.

Things I liked:

• Ricky has a good relationship with his parents
• Ricky shows courage.
• Ricky and his robot fight for justice. Moreover, there is a uncanny (providential?) sense of justice in natural consequences that find the villain.
• This easy read is a hybrid between chapter book and graphic novel. It seems to be a great way to help reluctant readers keep reading.

This book is also recommend on Christian Parent Reviews, even though we came to the same conclusion independently.