The Wild Robot
By Peter Brown
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published April 5th 2016 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Synopsis (from goodreads.com)
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....
I'm going to start this a review with me gushing about how much I love Peter Brown's children's books! I love Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, Children Make Terrible Pets. When I saw he had a middle grade book, I wondered if his magic of telling stories would shine through. I was not disappointed.
Roz the robot is wonderful. For a robot with "no emotions" Roz's personality begins to shine through with her actions and those end up ultimately defining her. I love that even though animals run away, she is persistent, and observes, learning how to make the animals less frightened of her.
The book also covers a lot of subjects that are great entry-ways into deeper conversation with a child that might be middle grade aged.
-Adoption (with the caretaking of Bright Beak)
-Death
-Responsibility
-Building relationships
-Communication
-Pollution/Global Warming
I really liked how Peter Brown approached the subject of death, and how it was perceived by the animals in the forest. The harshness of it along with the casual, this is how things are.
It was such a wonderful book, one that I read hurriedly in an afternoon and I was not disappointed, and the lesson of doing things for the greater good of all was just such a wonderful message and had such a wonderful messenger in Roz, the robot.
