Doug Unplugged

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 2013 by Dan Yaccarino

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Yaccarino, Dan.

  Doug unplugged / Dan Yaccarino. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Doug the robot discovers that cities are much more than downloaded facts when he unplugs from the computer feed and explores one first-hand.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-97966-7

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-375-86643-2

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-375-85921-2

  [1. Robots—Fiction. 2. City and town life—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.Y125Do 2013

  [E]—dc23

  2011047496

  The illustrations in this book were created with brush and ink on vellum and Photoshop.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For Will

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  About the Author and Illustrator

  This is Doug. He’s a robot.

  Each morning his parents plug him in to fill him up with lots and lots of facts. They love their little robot and want him to be the smartest robot ever.

  “Today you will be learning all about the city,” said his mom.

  “Happy downloading,” said his dad.

  Doug learned about many city things:

  But then something caught his eye.

  It was a pigeon!

  Doug had just learned that pigeons traveled in groups called flocks, but he didn’t know they made such a funny cooing sound!

  He wondered if there were more things he could learn if he went out into the city. So…

  Doug unplugged!

  Right away he learned that if you flew into a flock of pigeons, they scattered!

  Doug knew that cities were teeming with people.

  But he discovered that crowded sidewalks made it hard to see where you were going.

  Doug found the subway! He already knew that subway trains ran underneath the entire city.

  And that kids rode for free.

  And now he found out that subway trains s-c-r-e-e-e-e-c-h-e-d their way around corners.

  He couldn’t wait to learn more!

  Doug knew that skyscrapers had strong steel frames so they could be many stories high.

  But he was amazed by the view from the top of one! He could see everything!

  Doug learned many more things about the city, like: Wet cement feels squishy under your feet.

  Fire engine sirens are loud.

  Some garbage cans are smelly.

  Manholes are dark.

  Pretty flowers grow out of cracks in the sidewalk.

  Taxis stop if you raise your hand.

  And the cool water in a park fountain feels good on a hot day.

  Then Doug came across something that wasn’t in any of his downloads.

  “Want to play?” asked a little boy. Doug didn’t know anything about playing, but he was happy to learn.

  Doug learned how to play hide-and-seek.

  And a new game called tag.

  Doug found out there were all sorts of different ways to play.

  And that it was nice to have a friend to play with.

  “I don’t see my mom or dad!” his friend said, sounding scared. Doug remembered a way to get a better view of things.

  So…

  They flew way up high.

  “There they are!” the little boy shouted.

  When they landed, the little boy ran to his mother and father. Doug thought about his own parents.

  Suddenly he wanted to tell them everything he had learned today.

  The best thing he learned was that if you want to show your parents you love them, you should give them a great big hug.

  And his parents thought he was the smartest robot ever.

  DAN YACCARINO is an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator with more than thirty books to his credit, including All the Way to America, Lawn to Lawn, The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, Every Friday, Unlovable, and Dan Yaccarino’s Mother Goose. Exhibitions of his work have been held in New York, Los Angeles, Rome, and Tokyo, and he has been invited to the White House to read his books. Dan Yaccarino is also the creator of the TV series Oswald and the Emmy Award–winning Willa’s Wild Life.

  Mr. Yaccarino lives in New York City with his wife and two children. You can visit him on the Web at yaccarinostudio.com.

 

 

  Dan Yaccarino, Doug Unplugged

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