The Wild Robot
Author: Peter Brown
Published April 5, 2016
Page Count: 288
After a cargo ship full of robots sinks one lucky mech manages to wash ashore on a small uninhabited island. Once activated the robot adapts to life on the island, makes friends with animals and after a tragedy, ends up raising a gosling.
Reading Audience:
My child’s fourth grade class read this one. The chapters are very short, and the book is not very long. Amazon suggests 7-10 years.
Stuff to be aware of:
Language - nonexistent
Scariness - A hurricane sinks a cargo ship. No humans are mentioned as being hurt. The robot in the story survives a storm and a mudslide.
Violence/Gore - Animal carcasses are mentioned. Two bears think about how they want to “kill the robot.” Vultures are mentioned to hunch over carcasses. A fox goes, “for a porcupine’s throat” because he was hungry. Two geese die when a robot falls on them and their eggs are crushed. During winter a weasel, a mouse, and some other animals are found frozen to death. This scene is brief. Some geese fall prey to the winter, but this isn’t graphic. A goose is shot by a rifle and killed, this is again brief and not graphic.
During a few scenes animals fight robots. One bear has a few bones that are broken. One character says, “kill the robot!” Some characters are mentioned as, “bruised and bleeding.”
Two robots get shot and loose limbs. One robot ends up getting shot in the chest and is considered “dead”.
Other - There are many busted robots mentioned as being “dead.” Animals are asked to leave their “droppings” around a garden. There are some humorous interactions with animals defecating.
Overall
Although this is a simple children’s story it is rich with deep concepts that every parent wants their child to learn. There are themes of learning from those around us, adapting to our environment, not judging people based on their looks, trial and error and eventual success, importance of time and observation in learning, love, what makes a good parent, death, life, servant hearted friendship, and being kind to others even if they treat us differently. It is a great, short story and I whizzed through it and found myself wanting more at the end. I can’t wait to read the second and third ones.
This would be a great one to read out loud with your children or listen to together.
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