Robin Robin

by Mikey Please, Briony May Smith (Illustrator), Dan Ojari

Overview

A classic picture book based on the Oscar nominated Netflix short from Aardman animation, and written by the directors of the film. 

A chirpy young robin is adopted by a family of mice in the joyful retelling of the Oscar nominated holiday musical special from Netflix and Aardman Animation.

When her egg fortuitously rolls into a garbage dump, Robin is raised by a loving family of mice. As she grows up, her differences become more apparent. Robin sets off on the heist to end all heists to prove to her family that she can be a really good mouse – but ends up discovering who she really is.

Streaming worldwide from Christmas 2021, Robin Robin is the new collaboration between Aardman, the animation studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, and Netflix who have over 209 million subscribers in 190 countries. Golden Globe® winner Gillian Anderson, (The Crown) and Oscar® nominee Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) lead the cast which also includes Bronte Carmichael (Christopher Robin) and Adeel Akhtar (Enola Holmes).

Robin Robin is a warm and funny, action-packed story about learning to be yourself, and the importance of love and family over all things. It is also a heartwarming and humorous story with themes of diversity, community, inclusion and acceptance – perfect for the festive season and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636550091
Publisher:	Red Comet Press
Publication date:	11/02/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dan Ojari and Mikey Please are co-founders of the BAFTA Award-winning Parabella animation studio which is based in East London. They co-directed Robin Robin, in association with Aardman Studios and produced exclusively for Netflix. Together they authored an adaptation of the script of the Robin Robin holiday special to create a text for the classic picture book. They both live in London. Briony May Smith is a British illustrator who has published several picture books including Stardust, written by Jeanne Willis. She both wrote and illustrated Imelda and the Goblin King, which the Wall Street Journal described as “enchantingly illustrated" and Margaret's Unicorn" . She created early development concept art and character designs for the Robin Robin animation and then was invited to illustrate the companion picture book of the same name. Briony May Smith lives in Devon, UK.

Editorial Reviews

"Ojari and Please use plentiful repetition in the episodic exploits; Smith’s carefully detailed illustrations spotlight a warm and cozy mouse burrow; Magpie’s old tree cluttered with keys, buttons, and shiny tchotchkes; and a shabby-chic cottage, contributing absorbing, light-filled spreads to this action-driven holiday yarn" - Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2021-09-24
Any character in this picture book could be the main character in a different book.

Robin often speaks in rhyme: “Leave no trace, go tiptoe pace.” The mice who adopted her when her egg fell out of a nest speak mostly in short sentences, mostly about food, with exclamation points at the end: “Breadcrumbs!” “Pie crumbs!” “Cookie crumbs!” The book as a whole is technically a holiday story, but it’s the least Christmassy of Christmas books. The tree is mostly an excuse for Magpie to collect shiny objects, like the “Chrim-Cross Star” on top. All the different writing styles could make the book feel disjointed, but instead it becomes a statement of identity: “ ‘Hey, over here, look at me!’ [Robin chirps], flapping and singing as loudly as a BIRD.” Smith has made Robin a different color than every other character in the book, and it gives her an excuse to try out a rich and layered tint of red. If Rembrandt and Edward Sorel worked together on a picture book, it would look like this. (The book is based on a musical special from Aardman Animations, which, appropriately enough, is animated in a slightly different style, à la Wallace & Gromit.) By the end, Magpie gets a star, and the mice get three different kinds of crumbs.

This story makes a wonderful defense of chaos without being the least bit chaotic. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews