"Bing & Nero" by I. L. Williams

This book is really sweet. Bing is lonely. None of his friends can come over to play and his mom won't let him have a dog. He decides to build himself a robot so that he will always have a friend. He grabs several boxes worth of stuff and soon has a new friend named Nero. Bing & Nero become the best of friends and play together all day. It is a simple story, but one that is very fun and very sweet.

I think Williams has a great series going here. As an only child, I can relate so much to Bing. There were very few kids in my neighborhood when I was growing up, and even fewer of them were close to my age. Because of this, I spent a lot of time playing with imaginary friends. I never went as far to build a friend like Bing does, but I think it's a great idea. I see this book appealing to most kids, especially boys and those that are only children. The illustrations are adorable, Alper has done a great job of bringing Bing's creation to reality (I especially love that Nero is partially made out of a working microwave). I will definitely be keeping an eye out for subsequent books about these two wonderful characters.

Happy Reading!
-Melly