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sophia_sol) wrote2019-01-24 07:37 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2019-01-24 07:37 pm
The Wild Robot, and The Wild Robot Escapes, by Peter Brown
This is a pair of cute, quick-reading children's novels. The premise: a brand-new robot washes up on the shore of an unpopulated island, so instead of learning how to do useful tasks from new human owners, she learns how to become part of the life of the island amongst the animals. It's a sweet story about family you choose for yourself, and also acknowledges the realities of the cycles of life and death in the natural world.
In the second book, you see more of what the human world is up to, as Roz has been discovered and refurbished and returned to what she was "supposed" to do. There are indications that the story takes place in a future of our world, after climate change has drastically altered things, but it's a hopeful vision where humans keep living their lives despite the glimpses we get of cities sunk beneath the waves. And some humans are kindhearted enough to see what Roz has become, and help her return to her family and friends on her little wild island.
(But you have to not pay too much attention to the role of all the rest of the robots in this story, because when you think about what Roz has shown herself capable of, all of a sudden it looks like these nice humans are engaging in widespread slavery without a second thought.)
Ultimately these books are optimistic in tone, and I like Brown's simple, direct prose style and how the narrator isn't invisible. And I love the premise, of a robot at home in the natural world. I'm glad I found these.
In the second book, you see more of what the human world is up to, as Roz has been discovered and refurbished and returned to what she was "supposed" to do. There are indications that the story takes place in a future of our world, after climate change has drastically altered things, but it's a hopeful vision where humans keep living their lives despite the glimpses we get of cities sunk beneath the waves. And some humans are kindhearted enough to see what Roz has become, and help her return to her family and friends on her little wild island.
(But you have to not pay too much attention to the role of all the rest of the robots in this story, because when you think about what Roz has shown herself capable of, all of a sudden it looks like these nice humans are engaging in widespread slavery without a second thought.)
Ultimately these books are optimistic in tone, and I like Brown's simple, direct prose style and how the narrator isn't invisible. And I love the premise, of a robot at home in the natural world. I'm glad I found these.
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