A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce

from goodreads

5 stars

Well it was a sad day on Saturday. My oldest watched Meet the Robinsons which is based on this book. She came to me and said, "Mom, the movie wasn't the same as the book". I had to break the news to her that sometimes movies were not the same as the books. Lucky for her though, while Meet the Robinsons doesn't follow the story exactly it still stayed true to the fun and whimsy you find in this book. They didn't change characters around, they basically kept every element that was fun in A Day with Wilbur Robinson in the movie.

I know this isn't a movie review blog but, if you are looking for a great family movie that is fun for kids and adults and does not have any of those adult type jokes that they sometimes stick in (you know the ones I mean) then this is the movie for you. It was fun. Even my husband loved it. He stayed awake for the whole movie. (Last family movie we watched he fell asleep and we had to keep waking him up.) This movie is one that I am tempted to buy, but for now we will just go to the library to get our fix.

Synopsis

Unnamed boy goes over to his friend Wilbur Robinson's house. While there he is enlisted to find grandfather's teeth. As they search Wilbur's house they meet dinosaurs, snowball fights, life size train sets and more. All the while Wilbur apologizes for the boring day.

My Thoughts

This was such a fun book. When I was reading it to my oldest her eyes were wide with wonder the whole time. After I read the words on the page I had to wait until she was finished soaking up the pictures before I could move on. There is something interesting in each picture. The illustrations are filled with layers. Look to fast and you will miss something incredible.

I love how retro the Robinson family is. Singing Yes, We Have no Bananas. That is so cool. I love that song, ever since I heard in in the original movie Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. The Robinson's are truly some hip cats. And the best thing is they are totally oblivious to how cool they are. They are just living life how they want without worrying what others think. They are being their authentic selves. That is something positive to definitely emulate.

While I was reading the book, the way the people were illustrated seemed really similar to the show George Shrinks. When I was done I read the back and found out that Joyce was the creator of George Shrinks. I had no idea. I knew that he created Rolie Polie Olie (I saw it on t.v.) but I didn't realize how much work he has done on other shows and movies. He is one creative guy. I actually looked him up on goodreads. Man he has written a lot and done a lot. (He wrote the stories that the movie Rise of the Guardians is based on. That is another movie that is super awesome. My family loves it.) I think I am going to have to read all his stuff.

It would be interesting to see what other adventures Wilbur and his friend would get up to on another day. This book has whet my appetite for more. But for now, we are satisfied. This book allowed my daughter's imagination to go wild, and that is good enough for me.