duck and sock monkey review 'the sleepwalkers' & 'welcome to your awesome robot'

Clara the sock monkey: Look, we read this book, The Sleepwalkers, and it's full of awesome comics! Mr Hodden: Viviane Schwarz wrote it and drew the pictures. It's like she totally read our mind and knew just what we wanted in a book.

– It's true. Look, there's a bit about my origins. It's called 'How to Make a Sock Monkey'. – That's deep. – Yeah. I dream about it a lot. But I never have nightmares about needles or anything, the Sleepwalkers sorted them out.

– I guess this is the book we read after The Sleepwalkers. Welcome to Your Awesome Robot. – True! All sock monkeys should know how to build an Awesome Robot.

– Do you think this is good building stuff for making the base unit? – For sure! It's a good thing we didn't let anyone throw those away.

– Argh!! I can't see very well out of these holes! And I can't move my arms! I don't like this! – Hold on, the instructons say that we can cut different robot visor shapes.

– Phew, that's better. And now I can wiggle my arms. Right, Mr Hodden, what next? – Now we drink lots of champagne and save the corks to attach as robot buttons. – Should we take a photo of us drinking the champagne? – No, let's skip that part, I think it might make Sarah a little bit cross.

– *hic* – I'll do the cutting, you drank more than me. – I don't think Viviane talked about that problem in the health and safety warnings. – It must be the book's only flaw. – She's still young. She'll learn and she might put a warning in the next book.

– Okay, I've cut an input slot, now I'll draw the dial. – Why are you writing those words? – You'll see.

– Wow, isn't this the most Awesome Robot ever??! – Why does your dial say 'Needy'? – Our robot battery is very low – How do we power it up?

– Ah, I should have guessed. This is a chocolate-powered robot. Tell me we didn't make this robot just as an excuse to get me to feed you chocolate. – Would I do that?

– I thought the dial was supposed to read 'Processing' while you digest the chocolate. – I know, but even the THOUGHT of chocolate made the needle flip up to 'Wild Joy'. – Well, it's good to know it's a fast processor. We won't need to install any extra RAM. – Yes, there's only room for a monkey in here, not a big boy sheep.

– All that hard work and chocolate has made me thirsty. – Hey, The Sleepwalkers has a recipe for making a banana milkshake! – Yay, let's make one!

– Wow, we followed the directions and this tastes great. – I'd say that BOTH of Viviane's books are awesome. – Totally. I heard she wrote another book about cheese. – No way! Oh, I know, I know! Let's read the next one and have a FONDUE PARTY. – Oh, we totally have to do that. Hurrah!

Clare the sock monkey made by Rose Godfrey of Greenwich; Mr Hodden made by the workshop of Chris Haughton. You can follow Viviane on Twitter: @vivschwarz and The Sleepwalkers: @thesleepwalkers.