"The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
A robot on a remote island befriends and protects the animals that live there.
Years ago, on one of our annual pilgrimages to Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, a store employee recommended this book to Ansel. He was probably ten years old, and I think he finished it by the time we flew back to Texas. When we saw the trailer for the DreamWorks adaptation this summer, it was like an old friend suddenly became famous. So I made a point to read Ansel’s copy before I saw the movie.
After a year of Pulitzer winners, New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century, and Cormac McCarthy, it’s refreshing to read a novel written and illustrated for children. Especially when it is so well written that I got a little choked up at times. And Brown’s grayscale illustrations are charming additions to the narrative. It’s a cute story, easily read in a week.
The story follows Roz (ROZZUM unit 7134), a robot washed ashore when a cargo ship sinks. After a family of otters accidentally actives her, she’s seen as a monster by the island’s inhabitants. But after adopting an orphan gosling and building shelters for the animals during a particularly harsh winter, she earns their trust. When larger robots are sent by the manufacturing company to reclaim her, the animals rally to defend their friend.
The movie is an 80% faithful adaptation. Fink the fox plays a much larger role in the movie, and Chitchat the squirrel and the bear cubs Nettle and Thorn don’t appear in the movie at all. There are some other alterations, but no gross deviations from the original plot. And both the book and the movie position themselves for sequels. The movie is gorgeously rendered, so even though I still think the book is better, the movie is worth seeing.
READ IT IF: You need something light and cute. And if you’ve seen the movie.
Here are a few comparisons of Brown’s in-book art and scenes from the Dreamworks movie. Both styles are terrific in their own ways. I think Dreamworks did a great job on reimagining Roz.
