By Alan Windram and Chloe Holwill-Hunter
I was delighted to discover One Button Benny a few years ago. Me and my son both agreed it was just the kind of quirky, inventive robot and space story that my son would have loved when he was in reception, year 1 and year 2. So I was excited to be asked to join the blog four for the third picture book in the series. The combination of dinosaurs and robots in the ‘Dinosaur Dilemma’ will get the attention of many young children.
On the morning of the party One Button Benny and his robot friends are doing some last minute dance practice in the park, when after a massive leap suddenly the ground gives way and they fall down into a deep hole, where they meet Dennis the Dinosaur. Love what happens when Benny presses his emergency only button to save the day. Benny the robot grows in height until he is the same height as the dinosaur and then out of his button pops a gigantic hot pie!
This book can be read as a stand alone, though I’d highly recommend you check out book one in the series (see below). Fans of One Button Benny will appreciate the mention on p5 of the occasions in the previous books when he had saved the day.
A great twist on dinosaur and robot tales with surprises, danger, and a lovable main character that saves the day. The illustrator Chloe Holwill-Hunter has done a great job brining the character of Benny to life and managing to capture his feelings at each stage of the story, helping the reader to empathise with him. Highly recommend this picture book for pre-school, reception and KS1.
Other books in the series:
One Button Benny (book 1)
In the first picture book Benny is felling left out as all the other robots have lots of buttons, which when pressed do all sorts of wonderful things. But, Benny only has one button which says ‘Only press in an Emergency’. Benny is a bit sad that he’s different to the other robots. But, then one day there’s an emergency and Benny is needed to save the day, which he does in his own unique way, seeing off the green ‘hairy scary’ metal detectors.
One Button Benny and the Gigantic Catastrophe (book 2)
One night the Wobbles kidnapped all the cats, how will Benny and his friends rescue them? Read it to find out!