THE ROBOT AND THE BLUEBIRD

Lucas produces his most meditative work to date in a tale that reads like a mechanical improvement on Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Prince.” When a robot’s heart breaks unexpectedly he is sent to the scrap heap to wait out his days, until one cold night a bluebird lands on him. She can go no further on her journey south and takes up residence in the robot’s empty chest. The robot offers her a permanent home there, and when she explains that she must travel south he offers to take her. The trip proves too much for the old robot, however, and when they finally make it, his last words to her are, “Make your home in my heart,” which she does, along with her fellow birds. A quiet beauty permeates this old-fashioned story. The illustrations convey the robot’s simple dignity, color, perspective and sequencing neatly choreographing the tale’s emotional trajectory. (Picture book. 4-8)