Spare Parts

K-Gr 2—Rhoobart is a melancholy old robot made of spare parts. One day his secondhand heart won't start, so he visits Spare Parts Mart to pick up a new one. There, Blaggart, who smells of old socks, asks, "Whadya want?" Rhoobart is too timid to express himself clearly, so he wanders off to forage for himself. "Rhoobart dug into the rubble and he rummaged through the junk." He finds an abandoned jukebox and gets a scare from a robot dragon named Mozart, but no spare heart. Then along comes Sweetart, an energetic bit of metal, to give him a jump start. The book ends, "We're all spare parts. We've got secondhand hearts, it's true. We go together like pickles and glue. You stick to me, I'll stick to you." The artwork reflects the signature digital collage style of the Emberleys: full of playful details but with muted colors. Backgrounds are gray and taupe, while the characters are rust and brown.