Who's Going to Clean Up the Mess?

Susan Perks, formerly a teacher and librarian, is a travel agent in
Thompson, Manitoba.

Everyone in the Gunger family is very busy. They never seem to find the time to clean up, and they all feel that “cleaning up is boring.” Mrs. Gunger, an electronics expert, brings home a new invention: Tobor, the house-cleaning robot. Things run smoothly for awhile, then Tobor realizes that he just cannot keep up with the continual demands of the Gungers, and one day he announces that he quits. He sits down and reads for a week. The Gungers realize that they must set an example for Tobor (“What has he learned from us?”), and, by so doing, they realize that cleaning up together can be fun.

I really enjoyed this book, and the children who read it also loved it. It is an amusing story, with delightful illustrations. The facial expressions and human characteristics of the robot are particularly enchanting. The characters are very believable, and the story teaches a very good lesson. I would certainly recommend it for ages six to nine.