REVIEW: The Wild Robot Escapes (book) by Peter Brown

The Wild Robot Escapes is a Middle Grade science fiction book, the second in Brown's Wild Robot series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

At the end of the previous book, Roz left the island on one of the RECO ships in order to get herself repaired and keep more RECOs from coming after her. At the start of this book, Roz has been purchased by a farmer named Mr. Shareef, who can no longer take care of his dairy farm by himself now that his wife has passed away and his own injuries make it difficult for him to do the farm's more physical tasks. Roz, as it turns out, is perfect for farm work. Always careful to hide her true self from humans, Roz introduces herself to the farm's cows and starts trying to find a way to escape. It won't be easy - Mr. Shareef has a way to track Roz and goes looking for her anytime she leaves the farm. Even so, Roz refuses to give up hope that she'll someday be reunited with Brightbill, her son.

Whereas the first book was about Roz gaining a family/community and learning to survive in the wilderness, in this book, she's doing the work she technically was built for and learning about the world she came from. She uses the survival skills she learned in the wilderness to keep the "aberrations" in her programming from becoming apparent to Mr. Shareef and others, camouflaging herself by pretending to be a regular robot. The emotional skills she gained on the island also come in handy as she befriends the farm's cows and, eventually, Mr. Shareef's children.

After the way the first book ended, I needed to see how/if Roz would make it back to the island and see Brightbill again. The author continued to include reminders that life in the wilderness is hard - there are mentions of animals having died (no on-page deaths, as far as I can recall) but, as in the first book, it's generally accepted as something that happens sometimes. The more heartstring tugging moments were saved for the mother-son bond between Roz and Brightbill, especially when Roz's efforts to escape potentially put Brightbill in danger.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I plan to read the third book, although this second book doesn't end in a way that immediately suggests what the third book might be about - no cliffhanger.

Extras:

Black-and-white illustrations throughout, a note from the author, a discussion guide, and "behind the scenes" pages featuring the author's initial design sketches.