Book Review: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

by Lincoln Roos, age 11

The Wild Robot is a fantastic book by Peter Brown and it is worth your time. One would think, after reading this touching story, that the book deserves to be a bestseller and a movie. Well in fact, it is.

The reason I personally love this book is that it takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster through the eyes of the main character, Roz.

The story begins with a cargo ship full of thousands of robots crashing on a remote island. Most robots were damaged beyond repair except one, Roz, who gets activated by a bunch of curious otters. At first, Roz is confused and must quickly figure out how to survive on the wild island.

There are four main characters in this novel that one should be familiar with: Roz, a robot from the future that is used to run errands; Bright Bill, a young goose with a big heart that loves Roz; Chitchat, a squirrel and also Bright Bill's best friend; lastly, Ludwig, who is another goose that serves as a trainer and mentor to Bright Bill.

Wanting to get away from the beach where the crash took place, Roz makes her way into the forest. As Roz gets closer to the forest, she notices animals in the distance talking in an unknown language. Although Roz learns the animals’ language, they are still terrified and do not trust her.

The bears dislike Roz the most of all the animals. They believe that she is an apex predator, a monster, and are intimidated by her sudden presence. They even attempt to hunt Roz down, but she manages to escape.

While exploring the island, Roz experiences an alarming sequence of events that leaves her with a goose egg. Roz takes on the responsibility of caring for the egg – and later the gosling, who she names Brightbill.

Roz raises Bright Bill. Since Bright Bill is a goose he grows up fast. Quickly, he makes a friend named Chitchat and they soon become close. When Bright Bill is three years old, Roz takes him to meet his goose trainer, Ludwig, who helps Bright Bill learn to fly and swim.

Everything seems to go well for Roz and her little family, until one fall, when Bright Bill leaves Roz to migrate with his fellow geese for the winter. When Bright Bill returns, nothing is the same. Roz’s past comes back to haunt her in a dark turn of events, leaving her with a difficult choice between who she was and who she has become on the island.

The reason I like this book so much is that there is a wide range of emotions, like joy, sadness, fear, dread, and relief all spread throughout the book. Even though Roz is a robot, she develops relationships with the wild creatures on the island and learns to grow and feel the emotions listed above and more. This helps the reader connect with Roz and feel her emotions, not just as a robot but almost as a human being. These emotions shine through in my favorite scene in the book, when Bright Bill figures out Roz isn't his real mom. This scene includes all five of those emotions, making both Bright Bill and Roz very relatable and likable.

I recommend this book to middle school-aged students, and especially those who want to understand others better and explore their own emotions. This book helped me with some sad times, and if you are in a sad time yourself, I hope you give this book a read.