What a cute story! I loved the theme, that everyone has a spot in this world and it’s not by accident that we are all here and we all have a purpose! It might take time for us to figure out what that is and some people will help us along the way. But we can find it!

I have soft spot for friendly robots.
I also have a soft spot for cozy reads.

LUMO combines both aspects with beautiful illustrations. The sharp lines of our protagonist are set against dreamy backdrops with rich tones. The font used is cute and adds to the ethereal tone of the story. My favorite scenes are the bioluminescent plankton and LUMO swimming with the coral. The space illustration is also gorgeous.

My main critique is that I feel the plot would benefit from being tightened up and abbreviated. Dear author, don't be afraid to kill some of your darlings. It sometimes felt the author built the story around the illustrations, when I would prefer illustrations built around a story. While I am fine, with a slower pace, I did feel a bit lost at times, literally adrift in the waves with my new robot friend. Humans appear in the background but are never interacted with or acknowledged. Will LUMO be setting sail with them in a future tale?

Good concept which will become great with a bit of fine tuning and more plot to glue it together.

LUMO is a picture book with beautifully whimsical illustration and a promising premise. I read it with my children and we really enjoyed the illustration throughout the entire book but found the story wasn't written in a way to really pull us in and hold our attention. The idea is beautiful but my children had a hard time following along.

Thank you Charles Beams, Victory Editing and NetGalley for a copy of *LUMO A Friendly Robot's Journey Through Memory* in exchange for my honest review🌊☁️🤖

A little robot, a charming adventure, and a discovery of a new world. This was such a gorgeous story that explores the world around us and going after our curiosity. It's a beautifully drawn book and one I think children will absolutely adore.

This story was soft and comforting, winning my heart over with the illustrations. The story feels relatable, however, sometimes it feels like there's no plot, just random observations that don't come together as nicely as they could have.
However, the illustrations make up for everything else. They make the story "pop" and shine, they are absolutely stunning.
I love how Lumo's antenna flickered with curiosity! An adorable first read of the year.
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author, Charlie Beam,s for the opportunity of reading Lumo's adventure early with my ARC copy.

Such a sweet story. I was getting Wild Robot vibes from it. Definitely a sweet children’s book, I can see its going to be a series, and even though I am an adult I cant wait to see a sequel

I was so delighted I got approved for this book from NetGalley, as the cover alone is stunning (there’s even more beautiful artwork throughout the book)! Right away the artwork reminded me of one of my favorite albums by Mae, the Everglow. No one might know what I’m talking about or remember this album as it’s almost 20 years old, but the visuals for the early 2000s were eye catching.

Besides the visuals, the story started off strong as we follow Lumo, a robot who wakes up next to the ocean not sure what he’s doing here or where he came from. The story starts off with, the wave, talking to Lumo and showing him how each part of nature has a purpose. I thought the insights into Lumo’s thoughts were thought provoking and make sense for a robot who doesn’t remember his purpose or where he came from. However, I felt there was no resolution to the plot and we as the reader just have to trust Lumo understands he has a purpose…without actually finding where he came from or why he’s on seemingly Earth. I am assuming we will get more answers to this as there are more Lumo books released, but I do wish we got a little more payoff in this first installment. Maybe even just an illustration at the end alluding to something relating to Lumo’s identity or origins? Overall really enjoyed this one, and I plan to pick up any further sequels!

The art is this book is stunning. It fits perfectly with the gentle, slow story that accompanies it to make a comforting read that is perfects for people of all ages.
Short and sweet and full of charm, I had a wonderful time with Lumo.

4.25/5

This was so sweetly written! I loved the emotions it pulled out in my children as we read it together. I think the story started beautifully but never really seemed to provide answers to what Lumo's purpose was or how/why he came to be. My five-year-old enjoyed it but my older child asked what the point was at the end which is kind of fair because there wasn't really any resolution. Maybe the story will continue in future books and it's supposed to be a bit of a cliffhanger but it was a bit anticlimactic. The illustrations were beautiful! I did have an issue reading the smallest size of font on all of my screens so hopefully it's easier to read as a physical copy.

What a wonderful book and story, for kids and adults alike! Unfortunately the kindle did not do it justice, so I'll be sure to get a physical copy of this magnificent adventure! I am grateful for the eARC all the same! Will be recommending and purchasing this as gifts as well, given the themes that it touches. Looking forward to the next books!

Four Point Three Stars
Lumo is a robot and he tells a deep and profound story to humans. In his journey, Lumo talks with Nature and tries to discover his purpose in life.
The artwork is amazing and is an ideal book for older kids to find their place in this world. Simple but deep read.

An adorable ‘children’s ‘ book that I really enjoyed as an adult. The illustrations were beautiful and there are some lovely messages about the importance of water, waves, clouds etc. The lead is a cute little robot. This book is very much the start of the journey and I look forward to future books. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to see this amazing picture book.

Lumo is a little robot who is on the search for the place he is meant to be. Along the way he has conversations with clouds and waves who introduce him to many amazing creations and the beauty of the world.

The illustrations are really wonderful and add so much to this tale.

The use of language is lovely and there are so many opportunities for use in the classroom - particularly with reception and key stage 1 in the UK. For example - “Golden sands shimmered beneath the newborn light.” There is also links to the water cycle if covering this in science!

However, my only issue is that the use of capitals is not correct throughout. If reading this book aloud to family or in a classroom it would not matter, but it is a shame that the letter ‘i’ is used rather than I and the start of some speech is with a lower case letter.

By the end of the tale Lumo still hasn’t found ‘his place’ yet, which for some children may be difficult, but it is the perfect ending if there are more books to come in a series!

I would recommend this picture book for children, parents and teachers for reading for pleasure as well as learning opportunities.

This was cute!
Rating: 2.5🌟

Apart from the formatting of the ARC making it impossible to see a full picture at once, I loved the art style of this. Such a cute story, although somewhat lacking direction.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc 🧡

Honestly, Lumo: A Friendly Robot's Journey Through Memory was a really odd read for me. The artwork was absolutely gorgeous and I really enjoyed turning each page to every new illustration—but, my goodness, what was that story? There's some attempts at educational aspects to it as the narration goes through the ocean teaching the robot about purpose and then transitions to the clouds teaching about purpose and honestly I kind of just sat there wondering why?

For artwork this gorgeous, the structure of this story was abysmal in comparison. There's no real plot to any of it and all the purpose talk got very preachy after a while, to the point that I started to feel uncomfortable. There were a few moments where the book sort of teaches about coral and plankton and such, but outside of that I just didn't see what the point of following this robot through the ocean was. And while I did appreciate the use of onomatopoeia through the book, what I didn't much care for were the pieces where the narration was referencing "___ said," since it just didn't sound right.

So, I dunno. I have very mixed feelings about this book as a whole and I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to. I think I'd rather get a calendar with the artwork sans story, if I'm being honest.

This was an absolutely adorable and well drawn book. I was thrilled to slowly flip the pages and just admire the art. Some of the dialogue and text is a bit simple but it is to be expected from a children's picture book about a little robot who is curious about the ocean and it's depths.

We don't learn much about his past or where he comes from but we follow him on his curious little adventure and speaking to the ocean as a sentient being.

I hope we get more from this creator. I would love to see LUMO explore more and go on different adventures. Just a feel good, light hearted story that makes you want more.

This book felt like a deep, calming breath. LUMO is quiet, emotional, and full of small moments that linger long after the last page. I loved how the story doesn’t rush, it lets Lumo’s feelings unfold naturally, inviting the reader to slow down and simply be with him. There’s something very comforting about this book. It speaks softly about friendship, purpose, and belonging without needing big explanations. A tender, thoughtful read for children and honestly, for adults too.
Thank you Charles Beams and NetGalley for ARC.

I struggled with this one. The description and cover pulled me in, and I was looking forward to a cozy, beautiful story filled with wonder.

The pictures are very pretty and alone they paint a beautiful story of discovery. Maybe not the discovery the text is going for. That said, the text needs some serious development. It lacks true answers to big questions. What is the purpose of life? Who created life? Essentially that’s what Lumo wants to know. But the answers are vague as best, sometimes relying on science and sometimes more of a tangential thought process lending to emotion but not quite reaching it because there is no foundation that the answers are built on.

The version I read was an ARC, and I do hope it received additional line editing. Stylistically some non-standard choices were made with capitalization and punctuation (fine) but they were inconsistent. Some structural changes to dialogue would also help.

Beautifully illustrated, lacking in the story unfortunately. But Lumo is quite adorable.

I requested this ARC because my son has been really into robots lately, and at this point I’ve watched The Wild Robot more times than I can count. We both loved following Lumo on his journey as he learned more about his surroundings and tried to understand the world around him.

The artwork in this storybook is just as beautiful as the story itself. Every detail felt thoughtfully illustrated... from the scenery, to Lumo, and even the way the rain was drawn. It all added so much atmosphere and emotion to the story.

This is definitely one I’ll be ordering a physical copy of for my son. We both enjoyed it so much, and when a book is this visually stunning, we much prefer turning real pages over reading on a screen.

The only thing I wished for was a bit more to the ending... it felt like a slightly abrupt end to such a beautiful story. I’m hopeful this means there will be a book two that continues Lumo’s journey to finding where he belongs.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars from both my son and me.

This was a lovely gentle little story, accompanied by beautiful illustrations that really stole the show! The juxtaposition between nature and technology, with the robot on an isolated island looking for where he belongs, is just lovely. I could get lost in the artwork

This was a great book about memorys finding yourself and so gentally about dealing with this it was cute soft and so informative i adored this and would 100% reccomend.

This is a really awesome cute little story told about a little robot wondering what his nature is. I loved the art work in this book. If I had one negative I'd say I was a bit taken a back by the flow of the story. Kind of meandered a bit but not a bad start.