Book Review - The Wild Robot

The Wild Robot - by Peter Brown

The Good

The chapter length (you know this is a big thing for me) is very short.  Like, very very short.  I do love a short, short chapter.  (I read FOURTEEN chapters in one 30 minute session).  There are pictures for almost every chapter, and the illustrations are very well done.  Also, each chapter is pretty well self-contained.  The story moves nice and quickly and the robot (Roz) is constantly learning and growing and adapting, which makes the book appealing to younger aged listeners.  Nothing drags down bedtime read-alouds like a whining 5yo and a slow moving tale.  In fact, this would be an ideal story for a child wanting to get into longer chapter books because it would be very easy to transition to this.

The Bad

The robot becomes increasingly battered as she interacts with the island environment.  She is often 'hurt' by animals, storms, her own clumsiness, etc.  The other robots are destroyed by the waves and their scattered remains are referred to as a 'graveyard'.  There is some 'grossness' like getting pooped on by an upset bird.  Roz is badly hurt before she leaves the island, and so are many of her animal friends.  Three RECO recovery robots are destroyed, in some cases very slowly,  and at one point by a gun the animals steal.  A horrible winter results in multiple animal deaths.

My Thoughts

Roz the robot is shipwrecked off the coast of an island, and washes ashore with other robots, who are unfortunately all smashed to bits on the rocks.  Only Roz survives.  She is accidentally activated by some otters and the book essentially follows her 'becoming human-ish'.  The author doesn't pretend Roz IS human, mind you, but she adopts an orphan goose, feels sympathy and affection for friends,  and ultimately sacrifices herself for the well being of her island and its inhabitants.   The story ends on a cliffhanger - Roz hopes to one day return to the island and we are emotionally invested in the story by the end of it.  We all adored this first book about Roz and couldn't wait to find out how the story ended.