Freak Street: Meet the Robotsons product reviews

We have read a few books in the Freak Street series. Though the Wheelnuts books by the same creators, are holding our interest, it was neat to break off and try this book in the last week. On Freak Street every family is a little bit freaky. All of their surnames end in -son, and the start of their surname describes what they are. In this book, it's a family of robots, hence they are the Robotson family.

The Robotson family is made up of baby Ricky, Roy and Royleen as well as Stunt actor Mr Robotson and bank security expert Mrs Robotson. I liked that the family, aside from being made of metal were all fairly normal. While I wasn't keen to read about a girl character really into a boy band (this is something that my daughter couldn't relate to), I did like that she had some great engineering skills. Her skill at making musical instruments is just as important (or more so in the narrative) as her brother's monster robot building skills.

I also liked that the mother had an important job and that she was very good at it too. The dad in the book is a great role model as well. The balance in the relationships were also pretty good, which is important to me because I'm a mum with daughters who don't always fit in with the expectations of girls.

Aside from the dynamics in the book though, did it entertain? My daughter loved this book. The pictures are bright and engaging. The story is fun and there is plenty of comedy. She loved looking at the pictures, especially of Mr Robotson's robot fighting and also of his silly oil bath. She related more to Roy and his love of engineering robots, and really liked his room and Lizardo. So it was a bit of a winner all round. Can't wait to read more in the series, though not sure about those Humansons!