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Doohickey and the Robot

Illustrated by Stephen Lewis

(7-9 years old)

Doohickey gets a job as the professor's
assistant. But all he's allowed to do is
clean the house.

So, when the professor goes out,
Doohickey decides to put his newest
invention to good use. After all, what
could possibly go wrong?

Oxford University Press

UK Paperback • ISBN: 0199199833

The UK edition is part of the Treetops Series for the Oxford Reading Tree


Pacific Learning

US Paperback • ISBN: 1590550161


Slovenia This book is also available in a Welsh paperback edition entitled
Bechingalw a'r robot, translated by Juli Paschalis and published by
Gwasg Addysgol Drake ISBN: 9780861744923


'It's the RoBoffin 2000 Multi-Purpose Robot,' said the professor proudly.

'What does it do?' asked Doohickey.

'Absolutely anything!' said the professor. 'Let me to show you.'

The professor scribbled some words onto a scrap of paper. He fed the paper through a slot in the Robot's chest. Then he pressed a big button and stepped back.

The Robot hummed and whirred for a bit. Then it climbed slowly to its feet.

It was enormous. Its head almost scraped the attic ceiling.

The lights on the Robot's face flickered on and off. It looked as if it was thinking about something.

And then . . .

Illustration by Stephen Lewis

Illustration by Stephen Lewis

It painted a picture
of the professor's dog.

It played a piece of music
on the test tubes.

Illustration by Stephen Lewis

Illustration by Stephen Lewis

And discovered three new ways of splitting the atom.

'Pretty good, eh?' said the professor when the Robot had finished.

'Cool!' said Doohickey. He was really amazed. The huge heavy robot had whizzed around the attic. And it hadn't disturbed so much as a paper clip.

'It can do anything I ask it to,' said the professor.

'Anything?' asked Doohickey.

'Absolutely!' said the professor.

'Can I have a go?' asked Doohickey. He wanted to ask the Robot to build a space rocket or tell him next week's winning lottery numbers.

'Absolutely not,' said the professor. 'It's far too complicated. Besides, I've got better things for you to do.'
Illustrations © 1999 Stephen Lewis. Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press.


The idea for this book came to me while I was typing another story. I was supposed to type 'mow the lawn and Hoover the carpet', but I got it mixed up and typed 'mow the carpet' by mistake. I thought about how funny it would be if other jobs got mixed up and how that might happen.

It wasn't until after I had finished the story that I realised how similar it was to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This is an old fairy tale about a wizard's assistant who uses magic to do the housework for him.

I originally wrote the story as a picture book, but my agent thought that there was too much happening in it. She suggested that I rewrite it as 'chapter fiction'. This meant I needed to write twice as many words. I thought that a good way to do this was to introduce another character - someone that Doohickey could talk to when the professor had gone out.

This is where Newton, my favourite character, came in. He doesn't actually do anything in the story. He just stands around making unhelpful comments and pretending to be cleverer than he really is. I expect that most people can think of someone they know that behaves like that!