Reviews for Sleepy time Olie
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Ages 3-5. Olie the Rolie Polie, featured on the Disney Channel, returns in his third picture book. The space-age robot boy, with his Styrofoam ball head and his curlicue antennae, is missing his Pappy. Pappy, who has bonked his head, fallen down, and can't "unfrown," takes to his bed. So, Olie makes a ray gun that tickles every part of Pappy. Soon the whole family is whirling through the air and dancing on bubbles until they bubble into space. Then, in a pop, Olie is back in bed, dreaming happy, Pappy dreams. Everything about Olie's latest adventure is exuberant. The right-in-your-face, computer-enhanced artwork is bright, bold, and intensely colored, and Joyce hasn't lost his eye for detail: bedspreads are patterned, and an open book features two pages of robot writing. Kids unfamiliar with Olie may initially be confused when they find out Pappy is Olie's grandfather, not his father, but the text spins a pretty good yarn (even though the rhyme isn't always great), and the fun and the sheer happiness of the Rolie Polies being together spills off the pages to make this an upbeat read-aloud. --Ilene Cooper
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Olie the robot is determined to help old Pappy ""ungrow-up"" after a bad day. Not many bedtime tales involve a ""super silly ray"" that shoots huge bubbles, but Joyce?s bizarre tale does wind down to a sleepy conclusion. Despite some successful elements, the text feels heartless and flat, and the high-tech illustrations are uninviting. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
In Sleepy Time Olie by William Joyce, the robot boy waits for Pappy to tuck him into bed. But when Pappy hits his head the man "comes in/ all unwound" and bound for bed himself. Quickly, Olie conjures up a cure that has the once-unhappy Pappy floating in a bubble of fun. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Rolie Polie Olie is a robot on a roll with sequels, toddler stories in board format, toys, and his own Disney TV show. (Will he roll right on to the big screen next?) In this bedtime story about the Rolie Polie family, Joyce (Snowy Rolie, 2000, etc.) introduces Olie's grandpa, Pappy, who is feeling his age after arriving in a broken-down, depressed state due to a bump on his head. Olie mixes up some humorous ingredients to create a bubble ray gun "to help old Pappy ungrow up," a fanciful concept that will take some explaining to preschoolers, as will references to Elvis, a funny bone and a pelvis bone, and a whirling dervish. Joyce's weirdly wacky, round-headed robots are as appealing as ever, but some of his rhymes are more mechanical than magical. Almost every page has a different rhyme scheme, which causes the reader to struggle a little on the first reading, not knowing just which syllables should be accented to make the new meter fall into place. Rolie Polie Olie fans won't care about any of this, however, as Joyce's inventive ideas, rollicking rhymes, and readily recognizable, Rolie-Polie-round illustration style add up to a winning format with proven success. (Picture book. 2-6)
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
PreS-Gr 2-The robot family introduced in Rolie Polie Olie (2001) and Snowie Rolie (2000, both HarperCollins) is back. When it is time for bed, Olie is used to his special routine: "Happy Pappy, warm and wise,/reads lullabies and hushabies/beneath the sleepy Rolie skies." The little one is worried when the elder robot arrives late one evening, feeling old and discombobulated: "I bonked my head./I just fell down./I broke my smile./I can't unfrown.- My step has not a bit of spring,/my hip has no hooray.-My cheeks do not feel cheeky./My red-letter day has grayed." Olie tries to cheer him up by building "a super silly ray" made out of a funny bone, a hopscotch hop, a book of jokes, and a loud hiccup. One dose of the "Pappy pick-me-up" and the robot is dancing in bubbles and feeling young again. The computer-enhanced illustrations are awash in eye-popping color and the dark backgrounds enhance the three-dimensional effect. The simple, sweet tale about this extended robot family is enlivened by Joyce's signature offbeat images and catchy rhymes.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
