What do children enjoy reading? There are a number of those who do, greater than those who do not. Part of the problem over the years is keeping students engaged.
My fond memories of Dick and Jane, Hardy Boys, Tarzan, Louisa May Alcott, and so many more are as shadows of the new books that have children reading.
How about this: "Granny's Revenge was a competitor robot in two series of Robot Wars. It was often considered to be a joke robot as it was allowed to qualify for the main series to provide entertainment for the audience and TV viewers. These contests can get nasty.**
But, there is more. It will give more information than I cared to do:
The original Granny's Revenge featured a dummy of an elderly woman sitting in a motorised wheelchair, therefore making it top heavy. Despite this, the robot was extremely lightweight at 66kg. It had a pneumatic flipping leg as weaponry, which was not seen in action. 'Granny' herself held a chainsaw in her arms, but this was static and for display purposes only. The dummy was extremely flammable, and would torch the whole robot when set alight
There is a better overview: "Granny's Revenge trundled around the arena, attempting to dodge its opponent. After some spinning around by both robots, Axe-Awe slammed into Granny's legs with its back, shaking it but generally doing nothing. Granny at that time was avoiding Axe-Awe by steering around it. Axe-Awe nudged it gently before backing off as Granny's Revenge turned around. Granny then drove on the closed pit but then Axe-Awe again used its back to slam into Granny's Revenge, pushing the robot into Sgt. Bash."
The books are a huge hit, mainly with boys. Perhaps they are the sons of the "Captain Underpants" generation. There is also the "Goosebumps" series. Huge hit.
How did I learn about this gem of literature? My eight-year old grandson from Switzerland told me about it. He loves the books, but then he is a reader.
Below is info about
Both are available from Amazon
These were books that reluctant readers glommed onto and ate it all up. And, it really doesn't matter at that age to read the ridiculous and funny.
**My husband was the credentialed teacher supervising science teams' contests who spent untold hours creating robots. Not your traditional robots, but there were robots nonetheless. His team's name was "The Cyborg Zombies".
