Robot Boy

I have always enjoyed Tim Burton's works. Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, The Nightmare before Christmas, Sweeney Todd just to name a few. And now he has a new book where he "gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children: misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds."

Titled The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, it contains 23 twisted poem-like stories with colorful illustrations that really help bring the characters to life. It is rather enjoyable albeit slightly creepy and demented at times. It'll make you gasp in amazement, laugh out loud or shake your head in disbelief at the creativity that is Tim Burton.

I particularly like this one about Robot Boy. Thumbs-up to the words used and the ryhming. And when I googled about Robot Boy, they actually make figurines of the characters for those collectors..cool!

Robot Boy

Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a wonderful life.
They were a normal, happy husband and wife.
One day they got the news that made Mr. Smith glad.
Mrs. Smith would be a mom,
which would make him the dad!
But something was wrong with their bundle of joy.
It wasn't human at all,
it was a robot boy!
He wasn't warm and cuddly
and he didn't have skin.
Instead, there was a cold, thin layer of tin.
There were wires and tubes sticking out of his head.
He just lay there and stared,
not living or dead.
The only time he seemed alive at all
was with a long extension cord
plugged into the wall.

Mr. Smith yelled at the doctor,
"What have you done to my boy?
He's not flesh and blood,
he's aluminum alloy!"

The doctor said gently,
"What I'm going to say
will sound pretty wild.
But you're not the father
of this strange-looking child.
You see, there still is some question
about the child's gender,
but we think that it's father
is a microwave blender."

The Smiths' lives were now filled
with misery and strife.
Mrs. Smith hated her husband,
and he hated his wife.
He never forgave her unholy alliance:
a sexual encounter
with a kitchen appliance.


And Robot Boy
grew to be a young man.

Though he was often mistaken
for a garbage can.

My Rating: