Dadbot by Jack Noel – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Robot, inventions, holidays, busy, drawing.
Children’s book title: Dadbot.
Children’s author: Jack Noel.
Genre: Children’s graphic novel.
Published by: Piccadilly Press.
ISBN: 9781800788282.
Recommended for children aged: 6-12 year-olds.
First published: Paperback March 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: anyone who enjoys graphic novels and books about family. Less confident readers will find this a fast moving adventure with cliff hangers at the end of each chapter to encourage continued reading. The humour is well done and the book is suitable over quite a wide age range.
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Our review:
The summer holidays have just started, and already Josh and Daisy are bored. Their parents both work from home and are always very busy. When their dad agrees to take them out for a while to a car boot sale, they are delighted. Then disaster strikes – Daisy breaks something, and Josh buys a broken-down robot from inventor Dr Egg’s stall. However, the robot actually saves the day, so they decide to take it home with them.
Overnight, thunder and lightning sweep through their town, and, amazingly, their robot comes alive! Dadbot, as he insists he should be called, has all sorts of cool abilities – his bum prints things, his belly is a telly, and his legs are amazing! Just don’t enquire too closely about where he gets his hot chocolate from! After trying unsuccessfully to tell Mum and Dad what has happened because of the storm, Josh and Daisy take Dadbot to the park, where they sign up for a parent/child volleyball match the next day – and that’s when things get really weird!
The following day, while they’re at the park, Dad is kidnapped by another robot! Rushing home, they finally tell Mum about Dadbot and what has happened to their real dad before heading off to Dr Egg’s laboratory to rescue him. With another storm brewing, robots waiting to defend their creator, and Dr Egg setting a trap for the family, saving Dad gets really difficult really quickly! Dadbot is up against robots much stronger than him, but he has learnt what family means and knows it is one of the most important things of all.
Our verdict:
Dadbot is a quick read, with lots happening in each chapter. The main protagonists – who appear to be bears and possibly twins, although neither is explicitly stated – are instantly relatable. The villain has hints of a Wallace and Gromit baddie as he plots first to get rid of his robot and then to get him back!
The long summer holidays, busy parents, and instant boredom are all things readers will recognise – although maybe not the solution! Even though this book features robots, kidnapping, inattentive parents, and a nasty villain, it remains a light-hearted read. There is nothing too scary, and any moments of jeopardy are balanced with jokes or humorous interactions between the characters.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Many graphic novelists are both authors and illustrators. Do you think this makes the process easier, or might it mean they are less open to feedback from others?
- At the front of the book, the author thanks his proofreaders. What do you think being a proofreader entails? Would you like to be one? If so, what types of books would you want to read?
- Dadbot has all sorts of cool features. If you could design your own robot, what special abilities would you give it?
- The book includes instructions at the end on how to draw a Dadbot and adapt it to make it your own. In a cross-curricular activity with art, design your own robot. How would you make it more environmentally friendly?
- The book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger – but there is one! Do you like the way the author has left you wondering what will happen in Book 2?
Many thanks to Piccadilly Press for the review copy.
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