Wodney Wat's Wobot by Helen Lester - OPTIONAL

Lester, Helen.  Wodney Wat's Wobot, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger.  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. $16.99.  PICTURE BOOK.  Rodney has a speech impediment.  His Rs sound like Ws.  But then he receives this really great birthday present: a robot that repeats what it hears.  But the good news is that it can pronounce its Rs correctly.  So Rodney takes this robot with him to school and whispers his answers to the robot, who then says the answer correctly.  His problems seem to be solved...until Camilla, the bully shows up (she had moved away, but is now apparently back).  Can his robot save him and his friends from Camilla?  Or will she take over?  So many questions.  And I didn't care about the answer to them while I was reading this book to my kids.  I didn't like Camilla; she truly was a bully.  But in all honesty, I didn't care if she beat up Wodney (I mean Rodney) because he was annoying too.  This book wasn't terrible, but it lacked that something special to set it apart from other picture books.  Pre-K, EL (K-3) - OPTIONAL.  Brent Smith, Reading Teacher