The Wild Robot
Peter Brown. Little, Brown, $16.99 (282p) ISBN 978-0-316-38199-4
Brown’s middle-grade debut, an uplifting story about an unexpected visitor whose arrival disrupts the animal inhabitants of a rocky island, has a contemporary twist: the main character is a robot. A hurricane deposits Roz (short for ROZZUM unit 7134) on the island, where she is accidentally activated by a group of sea otters, who are terrified by the shiny monster awakening before their eyes. At first, Roz struggles to survive in an environment where she is treated as a frightening intruder, but after she adopts an abandoned gosling, she slowly becomes part of the island community, learning animal language and taking on motherhood and a leadership role. Brown (Mr. Tiger Goes Wild) convincingly builds a growing sense of cooperation among the animals and Roz as she blossoms in the wild. The allegory of otherness is clear but never heavy-handed, and Roz has just enough human attributes to make her sympathetic while retaining her robot characteristics. Brown wisely eschews a happy ending in favor of an open-ended one that supports the tone of a story that’s simultaneously unsentimental and saturated with feeling. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Apr.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/18/2016
Genre: Children's
Compact Disc - 978-1-5491-7543-5
Compact Disc - 978-1-4789-3835-4
Library Binding - 978-1-4328-5989-3
Open Ebook - 288 pages - 978-0-316-38201-4
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-316-38200-7
Paperback - 979-8-88579-434-3
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-316-58109-7
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-5491-4292-5