In The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018), our robotic friend from the first book has been refurbished and sent to work as a “normal” robot on a farm in a futuristic world. With all of her memories and abilities from her wild years, however, Roz is only interested in returning to her island home to fulfill her original purposes, such as being a mother to Brightbill the goose. With the help of the young children on the farm and with Brightbill’s guidance, Roz makes a break for it, meeting a variety of other animals, both friendly and not, on the way.
Roz’s second story begins on Hilltop Farm, where a family is getting a “new” refurbished robot. It is only after a few little while that we, the reader, learn that Roz still remembers how to speak like the animals and still remembers her life on the island. It’s a relief when we discover this (although, it is clearly a sequel, so it would be weird if she didn’t). Roz now gets the chance to interact with humans, and the children soon discover her secret. After they help her escape, Roz must travel through new types of wild land. Her new animal antagonist now is the wolves, but that is the least of her worries. Humans are now tracking the “defective” robot, and Roz needs to avoid capture if she wants to keep her memories — and her “life.”
The story is just as delightful as the first, although not as innocent. In the first, we found a robot interacting with animals and learning. In this one, there are more antagonists in the form of humans. The world is a futuristic one, in which people depend on robots for many “ordinary” tasks. The world doesn’t feel friendly anymore. The humans are the “bad guys.”
My only complaints again relate to my perspective of the book as a grown-up. Robots cannot feel (as the first book remembered to remind us), so Roz’s desire to return seemed misguided since a robot would simply be following commands. In addition, in the book, Roz’s rehabilitation was physical and they asked her questions, to which she responded correctly. They didn’t “wipe” her memory or “reinstall” any software before selling her. This is not how computers and robots would work. But. Suspend my disbelief and pretend like I’m a child, and, as I said, it’s as fun as the first.
As with the first book, my daughter and I listened to the fantastically done audiobook. It brought Roz and her animal friends to life and kept us interested from beginning to end. The narrator somehow managed to represent all the people, animals, and robots sound completely different. My daughter declared this to be her favorite after we finished. My favorite remains the more innocent and timeless first book.
