If a robot were left alone in the woods, what would it do?
It’s not a question a lot of people ask, but one that apparently a lot of young readers would like some answers to.
Children’s author and illustrator Peter Brown has been doing his best to provide those answers over the past few years with his New York Times best-selling Wild Robot series. The third and most recent book, “The Wild Robot Protects,” came out in September. Around the same time, DreamWorks announced it is planning to make an animated film based on the first Wild Robot book, though the cast and release date have not yet been set.
Brown, who moved to Maine last year, says his series combines two of his major interests and art subjects – technology and nature. While most robot stories have been about how humans interact with robots, Brown has opted for stories about what robots can learn from nature, and in the process, maybe what robots can teach us about ourselves. The books are illustrated novels, aimed at ages 8 to 12.
With so much discussion these days about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence, Brown has opted to look for positives. His stories center on a robot named Roz, who had been programmed to work with people and who is shipwrecked on a wooded island, filled with all kinds of wildlife but no people. One of the things she learns from the animals is how to be a parent, to a young goose.
“I just thought it would be interesting to take this robot, this mechanical person, and see if by putting her in nature, she’d become more natural and wild,” said Brown, 44, who lives in the woods near Damariscotta. “She’s designed to learn from people, but now she’s learning all these lessons from animals.”
ROBOTS AND MOTHERHOOD
Brown’s stories about robots, nature and motherhood caught the attention of another Maine author, Chelsea Conaboy, whose 2022 nonfiction book “Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood,” explores the idea that maternal instincts are largely a myth and that parenting is much more about learning and reacting. Conaboy contacted Brown to see if he’d be interested in discussing the topic with her at a public book event. Brown immediately agreed, and the event will take place at Mechanics’ Hall in Portland on Nov. 9.
“When I read about Roz learning to care for a child by using her resources, by asking other animals about their experience, it just seemed like a deeply honest take on what it’s like to be a new parent,” Conaboy said. “That’s what I was saying in ‘Mother Brain,’ that we learn and grow into becoming mothers.”
Ideas about what makes a parent are especially interesting right now to Brown. He and his wife, author and illustrator X. Fang – who also goes by Susan – are expecting their first child in January. Fang’s picture book, “Dim Sum Palace,” also came out in September. It’s an adventure tale in which a little girl dreams she goes out for dim sum and ends up inside a dumpling.
Brown said as he and Conaboy talked, he realized that parenthood is probably less about an in-born level of acumen for child-rearing than about being hypervigilant, trying to learn what to do, and sort of stumbling through it all, making mistakes along the way. Which is exactly what Roz the robot does with her gosling-child.
The animated film version of “The Wild Robot” will be directed by Chris Sanders, who has made several hits, including “How to Train Your Dragon,” “The Croods” and “Lilo & Stitch.” It’ll be produced by Jeff Hermann, whose resume includes “The Boss Baby: Family Business” and “Kung Fu Panda 3.”
Peter Brown wrote his Wild Robot books mostly while living in big cities. He moved to Maine last year. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
In announcing the film in September, DreamWorks described “The Wild Robot” as a story about how we all have the power “to exceed our programming” and said it “celebrates what it means to be wild and alive.”
Brown said the production company bought the rights to his first Wild Robot book before it was published in 2016. The second book, “The Wild Robot Escapes,” came out out in 2018, and the third, “The Wild Robot Protects,” came out this September. Brown says he has ideas for more books in the series.
Though a cast of voice actors has not been announced – unionized Hollywood actors are still on strike – Brown said the filmmakers have been calling him to talk about the books and run ideas past him.
A DISNEY DREAM
Having his characters and ideas form the basis of an animated movie is especially exciting for Brown, since one of his earliest ambitions was to be an animator for Disney films. He grew up in Hopewell, New Jersey, about 20 minutes from Princeton. He loved drawing from an early age and created his own picture book when he was 6. It was titled “The Adventure of Me and My Dog Buffy.” His mother helped with some of the handwriting.
He read all kinds of children’s picture books, but by the time he was in high school he “fell in love” with classic Disney films dating back to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) and including “Fantasia,” “Pinocchio,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” He dreamed of becoming an animator. After graduating high school in 1997, he attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
His mother, a teacher, encouraged him to pursue his dream of creating art. His father, a scientist who worked a jet propulsion lab for a time, wanted him to pursue something that might lead more directly to a job. Brown was also good in science and math and his father had hoped he might go into one of those fields.
“I’m glad I didn’t listen to his advice. And now he says he’s glad I didn’t listen, too,” Brown said.
In art school, Brown began to realize he wanted to illustrate and write books. After graduating in 2001, he traveled, did odd jobs and got some art assignments for various publishing companies while living in New York. By 2005, he had written and illustrated his first children’s book, “Flight of the Dodo.” It’s about a penguin who gets pooped on by a flying bird and decides he wants to fly, so he builds himself a flying machine and takes to the skies.
Since then, he’s written nine picture books and the three Wild Robot books, all with Little, Brown Books For Young Readers. He’s also illustrated books for others. Besides his Wild Robot books, his other best-selling picture books include “The Curious Garden,” “Children Make Terrible Pets” and “Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.” He won a Caldecott Honor for the illustrations for “Creepy Carrots,” a sort of “Twilight Zone” take-off involving a carrot-loving bunny who is stalked by the food he craves. It was written by Aaron Reynolds.
Author Peter Brown in an outbuilding at his home, where he plans to build a studio, Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
When Brown does bookstore or school appearances, kids ask him where the island is. It’s a made-up place, he tells them, but he originally thought of it as being near Alaska. They also want to know how Roz got on the island and why she’s a “she.” Brown says the robot is officially named Rozzum unit 7134. He tried calling the robot “it,” but as the story developed, it became clear to Brown that Roz was a she.
All three “Wild Robot” books have gotten critical praise, for narratives that keep children and parents riveted, for dealing with complex issues and for not shying away from tragedy and sadness. In the latest book, Roz and her island face a pretty big traumatic event – which we don’t want to give away.
“The Wild Robot books are among those books for kids that really can reach all ages, like ‘Charlotte’s Web,'” said Alvina Ling, vice president and editor-in-chief at Little, Brown Books For Young Readers.
Brown said part of the reason he wanted to move some place wooded and wild – like Maine – is that he’s been drawing the wooded island in the Wild Robot books for more than seven years while living in very not wild places, including Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
Brown had vacationed in Maine over the years with his family, including near Mt. Desert Island, and thought it would be a nice place to live. He and his wife picked a small town near Damariscotta because while they wanted woods and land and quiet, they wanted to be within an hour’s drive of Portland. They moved in last summer.
“We were done with city living and just wanted some place a little more peaceful,” Brown said.
And wild.
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