Colin Thompson is so clever and has a vivid imagination and gift of storytelling.  Barry is an alien-made robot who came to planet earth with his makers, but got left behind.  He doesn’t look like much, mostly put together from recycled cans and odds and ends.  But he has a huge brain which is back on his planet and which he can access.  Barry is stuck down in an old sofa and lives there through many generations of mice, dust, and lost items.  His job is to control events and natural disasters on earth, but because of his precarious position and loss of body parts, things on earth are not what they should be.  Barry is discovered by humans, taken out of the sofa, and put on a shelf.  From there he can see the results of his mismanagement, and he sets out to correct it.  In the past, the Ice Age took care of life on earth by destroying it and allowing itself to regenerate.  Barry figures the same thing will work again.  Thompson has some subtle humor which the young children will not understand, but the grown-ups reading this story to them will.  The illustrations are what will hypnotize the younger set and will capture their attention for many hours.  I could see kids trying to replicate the image of Barry by making a recycled robot and creating stories of what their robot can do.  Hugely entertaining.