"An image of a robot named Roz was slowly forming in my mind. I could see her exploring a remote island. I could hear her communicating with wild animals. I could feel her becoming part of the wilderness. And after years of imagining and writing and drawing, I realized I had all the ingredients for a robot nature story. So I drove out to a cabin in the woods, opened up a fresh notebook, and began working on The Wild Robot". ~Peter Brown This book is an engaging story about a robot being washed up to an island and mistook the island for her home. It's a story about her journey within the island, and about the things she learned that's more than what a robot would do.
The themes I discovered as I was reading this book were courage, trust, endurance/perseverance, survival, and relationships. Roz's main goal was to survive and endure whatever comes her way. She did whatever it took to survive, which was the bridge that connected her to building relationships with the animals in that island. Roz had the courage to become a mother, even though her feelings about being one was not discussed about in the story. She knew nothing about being a mother to a goose, yet she became one and devoted her purpose and life on the island for the baby goose. The animals around her, who called her a "monster", also began to trust Roz as she continued on the island taking care of Brightbill. These common themes helped build the relationship that Roz and the other animals had created together. Roz became a mother to Brightbill, and a friend to the animals. This theme can be used to discuss what the word "family" can mean. Roz and Brightbill are not related in any way, nor do they look anything alike, so in what ways are they family? How does that relate to families in the real world that we know of? These are good questions that can make children think critically about the story and making connections to their world. Even though we know that robots technically don't have emotions, I felt like the author did a great job at illustrating the transition from a typical robot to Roz the robot. Her name started to become more than just "a robot's name", but it started to become humanized and personal which made her not just a robot, but a robot with a sense of emotions. She cared for Brightbill like he was her own, and she cared for her friends in the island as well. Even till the end when Roz was taken away, she yearned for her loved ones as a mother would when leaving their child behind. She wanted to return back to her son and her friends on that island because to her, they were her home and family. Therefore, that really made the story and characters more realistic and relatable to us as the readers. Roz's character was an interesting and unique one because it really showed how she evolved overtime from spending with her family. At the beginning, she only connected with the others in order to survive. However, her character started to change to caring more about others than surviving. She had a bigger purpose than to survive, and I think that is what changed her as well. I can relate to her in some ways because I know how much mothers have to go through in order to provide what is needed for not only their survival, but their babies as well. I've seen the struggle that my best friend goes through, and I've seen her transform from not being as caring of others to being caring because she is a mother. It's quite fascinating to see that the changes that one goes through just to take care of someone you love. Therefore, I really admire Roz for taking responsibility of taking care of Brightbill when she had no idea how to. Roz is a robot programmed to do multiple things except knowing how to be a mother. Yet Roz became one and learned slowly throughout the story. This can be taught to children about taking responsibility of their own actions, and how good things can come from it. This book meets aspect of my criteria of being a good book. First of all, the story line is great. There were multiple connections being made throughout the story as I read the book. The story line helped paint pictures in my mind even though there were not many pictures presented to support it. However, if you consider the level of it, it is actually appropriate for children, and they can still create an image inside their head with the text. This book is a good book for children to continue building their text comprehension, knowledge, and imagery in books. Brown, P. (2018). The wild robot. London: Piccadilly Press.
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AuthorI love books, writing, and music. Life's too dull without books. Archives
November 2019
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