The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

 genre: children's literature

Roz has no idea how she arrived on the island.  One day she was turned on and the island surrounded her.  Well, the island and all the creatures that already live there.  How can a robot make a home on an animal-filled island?  How can animals learn to trust a robot?  This is the story of The Wild Robot and for my two 11 year old sons and I, the journey was a breathtaking and delightful one.

I love that Roz was a helper.  She was a nurturer and a peacemaker.  She was a problem-solver and a protector.  While there is disquiet and some fear-of-the-unknown that results in Roz dealing with the kind of isolation that a lot of kids will understand, there is also kind perseverance.  There is forgiveness and a tenderness that really struck me.  Even when there are upsetting circle-of-life moments, we as readers were given space to feel our feelings about them and move on, the way nature does.

My only hesitation in recommending it is that the ending has some violence in it that is different than the rest of the story.  My boys are a bit older so they were just only riveted and worried but I can imagine that younger readers might need more processing.  Maybe not, that's just a heads up. 

We gave it five glowing stars for our little read aloud posse and my one son said, as soon as we finished and he saw there was a sequel, "I'm so glad we can read more because I got so attached to those characters."  If that's not a recommendation from an eleven year old kid, I don't know what is.