The Wild Robot

Thanks for having me. I’m happy to be here. 

Of course, of course. So why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an author? 

Well, I’m Peter Brown. I’m an author and illustrator of children’s books. I’ve been writing and illustrating and publishing my books for about 20 years. I started off mostly writing and illustrating picture books, kind of funny, imaginative picture books. for, gosh, I don’t know, 10 years or so. And then I had this idea, you know, I made books that were not just funny. I had a, I had a picture book called the curious garden, which is about a boy who lives in a gray dreary city and he decides to become a gardener and he does a really good job, starts growing these gardens all over the place. And there’s some funny moments to it, but it’s kind of more of like a quiet book and kind of, uh, kind of wondrous in the sense that we watch as these gardens start popping up all across the city and the power of this boy and his friends have to kind of make their world a better place. So there’s some kind of sweet messages in there and worldly messages. And that was actually when I was working on The Curious Garden that I had this idea for my very first novel for kids. Because in The Curious Garden, I was working on a book, I was working, I was thinking a lot about natural things in kind of unnatural places, you know, like wildflowers growing in an alleyway in a big city, you know, or a lawn on top of a skyscraper. I was picturing these types of imaginative scenes. And at some point i thought about sort of the opposite, about something unnatural in a very natural place. And for some reason, I thought of a robot in the wilderness. And I’d sketch this little drawing of a robot in a tree, which really intrigued me. 

But I had all these picture books to make. So I went on to make more picture books. I illustrated the Creepy Carrots written by Aaron Reynolds, which won a Caldecott honor back in 2013. It’s been a while. And so I kept the picture book thing going. But I kept coming back to this idea about a robot in the wilderness. And eventually, I kind of had time in my schedule to get serious. And I dove into that project and ended up writing The Wild Robot. And that became a series all about this robot. named Roz, who lives out in the wilderness and learns how to kind of survive by studying the animals around her. So that’s kind of like my general overview of my body of work. And it’s been fun. I’ve always liked writing and drawing ever since I was a little kid. And so it was a pretty straight line from my childhood to my career. Like, I didn’t swerve drastically in any other direction. I always knew I wanted to do something creative, using my imagination and being able to make visual art of some sort. And so I feel pretty lucky that now that’s my career. 

Well, and I’m curious because you say that writing and art has always been a through line for you. But oftentimes when, at least for my experience, watching teachers and kids, not necessarily, those two things don’t necessarily blend together always, right? Writing and art. So for you, when you’re working in books, which do you find for you comes first, the art or the writing, or do they kind of merge together for you? 

Well, in the beginning of my career, it was definitely pictures came first. That’s the thing I’ve always been more comfortable with. I was writing little stories and stuff when I was a kid, but I was much more serious about drawing. I loved drawing. I practiced a lot. I took classes online. 

art classes in school and outside of school. My mom was really supportive. And so she helped me sign up for extracurricular art classes. So that was my thing. And it wasn’t until I got a little older, probably when I was in high school, I started taking creative writing classes. And then in college, I started taking writing more seriously because I realized at that point that I wanted to go into children’s books. And I wanted to come up with my own ideas. I didn’t just want to illustrate other people’s stories. I wanted to come up with my own stories too, which of course meant having to write. And so that’s when I started taking writing more seriously. But, you know, and nowadays I’ve written so many books that I sort of feel pretty comfortable with either doing either one, you know, either writing or drawing or illustrating. But that wasn’t always the case. When I was a little kid, definitely writing was intimidating to me. I think that I, you know, I wasn’t a great reader growing up. 

I was really pretty slow reading. I struggled with reading comprehension. I avoided that kind of stuff. You know, the books that I would check out from the library were mostly about drawing or fun books with fun characters where I would try to copy the characters and draw them, you know? So I was definitely more of a visual person in the beginning. And it’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to feel like now I’m equal parts author and illustrator. Yeah.

Do you feel like that influences your own work with kids, though, when you’re writing for kids?

Well, I’m sure it does. I’m sure all of that influences. The fact that I come from a place of feeling like I was struggling with reading as a kid, I think informs the style of writing that I have today. A lot of kids and parents and educators will come up to me and tell me how much they enjoy the Wild Robot novels, because the writing is so clear and concise and kids will tell me that they can really see in their minds what’s happening with the words just by, I mean, there are pictures in the books too, but the words are enough to really help these kids visualize what’s happening in the story. And I don’t think that’s an accident. I think I write in a way because I want to see it in my own minds clearly. And so the words aren’t finished until I can sort of they sort of paint a picture in my own mind. And I think a lot of other kids, whether or not they struggle with reading, I think they appreciate that approach because not that we’re all the same and read the same and think the same, but I think a lot of kids, like I said, do appreciate the clarity of the language and it just kind of helps them get into the story, right? And once they’re in the story and they really kind of get involved with the, attached to the characters, then you kind of have them hooked. So that’s, that’s the dream and that’s the goal. Um, and i think I’m, I think sort of unconsciously i ended up with a really, uh, helpful writing style, helpful in the sense that it brings kids into the story and it really doesn’t confuse them. And it really allows readers of different levels to kind of get lost in the story so i’m really happy with how that’s worked out. It wasn’t planned necessarily. It kind of came naturally, but I’m, pleased with it, of course yeah.

I appreciate that too and I one of the things that I love is following your blog because, and especially as I was researching this because the evolution of the wild robot and how you kind of share that process with the illustrations and how your inspiration for that I that’s part of how our organization started was it with a blog, just kind of documenting that process. And I think you sharing that and kind of how that that kind of came about was really helpful because I could see that over time. And being able to see your work over time on your blog has also been really interesting to watch. So in that process, you share that as part of that writing that you feel like the wild robot kind of turned into a fable. And I thought that was really interesting that you kind of classified that this kind of fable. So how do you feel that the story is a fable? 

Well, if you think about a fable, I mean, we usually think of fables as having animal characters and having some sort of a moral to the story and I think those, obviously there’s a lot of animal characters in the books but there’s also some real morals too, which is a little bit of a tricky subject because I don’t want kids to feel like they’re being taught a lesson, of course. And so I didn’t, set out with a specific moral in mind. I more kind of followed the character and let her guide the story, Roz the robot, and just kind of saw where it took me. And it seems kind of like inevitable now, but at the time I was surprised at the kinds of interesting lessons that kind of rose up naturally within the story. And I didn’t feel like any of them were too heavy-handed. We’re watching Roz. We’re kind of living vicariously through this character, watching her get to know the world around her and struggling in many ways. And I think because the main character is a robot out in the wilderness, kids are more likely to follow along, even with the sort of family dynamics that get brought up in the story. I think… 

At the end of the day, Roz the robot ends up becoming a single mom. She adopts an orphaned gosling and struggles with parenthood. And I think if I had made a book about human characters, a single mom, I was raised by a single mom, by the way, so this is no coincidence, but I think had I made this story about human characters, I think a lot of kids would have been less interested in it. Some of them might have been a little more interested. I don’t know. Maybe if they also were raised by a single mom, they could connect really strongly with that character. But I think it’s kind of fascinating how many kids really love Roz and her son, Bright Bill, and their relationship. And we’re watching a single mom and her son struggle with a lot of the stuff that most parents and kids struggle with. And it’s just fascinating to me what I could get away with by using these characters and these animals and this robot, I can talk about all sorts of really relatable everyday stuff in a way that is way more kind of imaginative and wondrous for most readers. And I didn’t set out to do any of that. I just wanted to see, I just wanted to imagine what would happen if a robot was alone in the wilderness and how might it kind of learn from the wilderness and try to survive in that setting. And lo and behold, all this interesting stuff started bubbling up. And I thought, wow. That is cool. And I’m going to just run with it. And so gradually this story turned into what kind of feels like a fable, to get back to your original question, with these animal characters and these different lessons that we’re learning and through Roz. And it just kind of worked out that way, you know? I don’t know. It was pretty… It wasn’t easy. These books are really, really hard to write. But looking back on it now, I feel like something kind of magical happened that… doesn’t happen every day, and I feel lucky that I could kind of be part of it, you know? Yeah, being that conduit for those yeah characters um and kind of speaking of the magic of the right time, the right place and and having that happen um 

Kind of the idea, when you were writing this, artificial intelligence was not anywhere near what it is now. And I think as we’re looking, and especially as kids are introduced to the wild robot now, um, My daughter read it not very long ago. And as artificial intelligence is ramping up, there’s the emerging technology that we’re seeing today versus what was at the time of writing. I’m curious to what your thoughts are as this technology is now emerging. So what excites you about this and what makes you nervous about it? 

Well, first of all, I was well aware as I was writing the book that the technology in the story was… I didn’t want it to feel dated in the future. And so I was pretty vague about the kind of nuts and bolts of the mechanics of Roz and the makeup of her computer brain. I use that term. But I don’t talk a lot about the software and how many… terabytes of storage she has in her computer brain. Like I didn’t get into all that stuff because I just thought, you know, all those little specific details are someday going to feel outdated. And so I was much more interested in what the life experience is of this artificial being in a really natural setting. And so I deliberately kind of shied away from some of those nitty gritty technological details. But yeah, I was reading a lot about artificial intelligence and robotics and the future of those technologies and thinking a lot about it. And so much of our popular culture that involves these subjects is dystopian. And I didn’t really want to go there. I felt like we’ve seen that. We’ve seen the robot uprising, like the robots taking over the world. And, you know, it’s like that’s Terminator. That’s so many movies and the very first robot story ever told. the first time the word robot was used was in a play written over a hundred years ago about robots rising up and, you know, taking over humanity. So it’s like, this has always been part of the kind of robot folklore. And I didn’t, I was like, we’ve seen that. I want to do something else. And so I focused more on kind of a best case scenario. Like what’s the, what’s the possibilities? What are the great possibilities of this technology? What, what kind of amazing things could potentially happen with artificial intelligence. And so Roz is this just really lovable and likable and admirable character who seems to have real genuine thoughts and feelings and uses her abilities to try to make things better for those around her. And I just, I love that this is like, this is also a possibility for artificial intelligence. I think, you know, in the real world, It’s a little murky, right? There’s a lot of great uses for these technologies and obviously in the wrong hands, it could do a lot of damage too. And so it’s a tricky subject. I try to stay positive about it all, but obviously we have to be careful and it does, you know, I do get worried sometimes that maybe things are developing so quickly that we’re not, our society just isn’t really able to adapt quickly enough to the advancing technologies. 

Technology and, and some people are going to use this stuff for bad purposes. And so I guess that’s always been the case. There’s always been technology advancing and there’s always been bad actors using good technology for bad purposes that hasn’t really changed. So I think, you know, I think we’ll find our way through all of this, but, but, you know, it’s definitely has to be, we should be cautious. I think, I think there’s a degree of caution and skepticism is really healthy at this moment. And so I hope, most people have i think an attitude kind of like mine which is let’s use this for let’s try to focus on all the good stuff and be mindful that there’s a lot of potential for danger as well and so let’s not be naive about that um but i don’t have any answers you know nobody really does at this point we’re all kind of like living through this experiment together as humanity and it’s exciting most of the time i feel excited and sometimes it’s a little scary.

I’m curious if at any point when you were thinking, I know that when you put Roz in nature, it was the juxtaposition of nature versus the machine, but also if the slowness of nature, the fact that nature does operate at a different speed than how society does in general, played any factor in the choices that were made perhaps in that story. Because there was a sense of maybe not having to go as fast. The things could take time a little bit more. And getting used to Roz and Roz getting used to nature. 

Well, I mean, these subjects are all fascinating to me. And to kind of mash them up like that was really interesting. For sure, the sort of slow pace of nature. The kind of predictability of nature. That juxtaposition of this… advanced technology with this. And, you know, I don’t talk about these details in the book, but we have to assume she has this like incredibly powerful processor. She can probably think really fast and make decisions really quick and analyze things and all this stuff. And here she is in this place where like the seasons are coming and going at their own pace. And you can be as fast a computer as you want or a faster robot as you want. But you’re not going to be able to change the slow pace of life out there in the wilderness. And so Roz has to adapt, she has to adjust. And watching this technological artificial being adapt and change and learn based on that environment was really what drove my interest throughout. The idea that in a way this robot could almost become more natural and wild than a person could. 

because of her ability to study things closely, remember things perfectly, mimic noises and movements. She can learn to communicate with the animals and develop relationships that no person ever could. She could hide better because she can sit perfectly still for really long periods of time. And her attention to detail is so incredible. And so we’re watching this thing that seems unnatural become natural. That is a huge arc and a huge character arc, right? And so every step of the way was just so interesting to find different ways of revealing how this character is becoming the opposite of what you would expect, becoming natural and wild, step by step, walking the reader through that process. That was the whole thing. That’s what I set out to do. All the other family stuff and the morals and the… bigger kind of philosophical things that they explore were icing on the cake. But the sort of bones of the story that got me going in the first place was that what kind of what you described of watching this quick, fast processor, you know, this advanced piece of technology living in this slow, methodical, natural, peaceful environment. Yeah. I don’t know. I could talk about it forever. It’s amazing. Yes. 

So, of course, Roz has been on many adventures since, but now I think an exciting one is the new movie that’s coming out in September, right? Yeah. So, with DreamWorks, yes? So, I’m curious what the movie process has been like behind the scenes a little bit. Can you share a little bit about that with us? 

Sure. Well, DreamWorks, the funny thing is that they optioned the film rights for The Wild Robot before the book was even published in stores. You know, they have people… they have people at their studio whose jobs it is to look at the publishing world and see what’s out there that might be worth adapting into a movie. And they had approached me a couple of years earlier about some of my other books, which didn’t go anywhere. But in those conversations, I mentioned this Wild Robot novel I was working on. They were immediately interested. In fact, they were kind of hounding me for any draft of the story they could get their hands on. as soon as possible, but I, I didn’t want them to see it until it was finished and polished and i felt really strong, really good about it. So I, I, I think i kind of annoyed them a little bit because i refused to give them anything until i felt like it was done, but eventually i finished it and i sent them the manuscript and they immediately made an offer. Um, this was probably a couple months before the book came out into stores and you know, I’d never had a movie company made me an offer before. So we had a little negotiation and eventually I signed the deal and that was very exciting. But then years go by and nothing happens. They have different writers and different directors who are kind of interested, but none of that goes anywhere. And I started wondering if this was ever going to happen. But then eventually I got the news that Chris Sanders, the director, was signed up to direct the Wild Robot movie. Now, Chris Sanders… is a big deal in the animation world. He directed the how to train your dragon movies. He directed and wrote those movies and lilo and stitch um he worked in disney back kind of in their renaissance through like lion king and beauty and the beast and those movies um so he’s a really, I mean, honestly, I couldn’t have hoped for a better situation because here’s a big animation studio with a big time uh experienced and talented director joining forces to make a big, big budget movie based on my book. So it’s been really exciting. And, um, they’ve been, I talked with them, Chris and the director and the producer, Jeff, um, and i get on zoom calls pretty regularly to talk about what they’re working on. And they ask me questions and picking my brain about why i made certain decisions, decisions in the story. Um, and then kind of getting me up to date on the like production of it all so I just had a meeting with them on Tuesday, actually, and they are wrapping animation next week and recording the score in London. They have to go to London to this symphony to record the score. It’s like very cool and really amazing. So I feel very lucky to have had this happen. 

That’s amazing. So do you get to do you get to see any of the animation? Like, do you get to preview any of that? 

Oh yeah, sure. Yeah. They sent me the latest version last week and I watched it over the weekend with my wife. It’s all, you know, it’s funny because it’s very kind of secretive, right? So there’s like all this, you know, technology that they have to make sure that nobody accidentally gets their hands on a copy of the movie. And like, you have to sign in and I have to have this account and the link is only good for a couple of days and then it expires and you can’t watch it anymore. When I’m watching the movie, it has my name and a watermark across the middle of the movie. So it’s a little distracting, but that’s the version. That’s the only version that they’re willing to show anybody is, is this sort of like watermarked version so that if ever anybody were to like record a bootleg version of it, it would be clear that it was a bootleg version of it. And so anyway, so I’ve seen the, a lot of it, like, you know, like it’s about 90% finished and I’ve seen that, that animation already um and but i’m looking forward to seeing the one without the watermark on it because it’s a little, as a visual person, a little distracting and hard to like kind of get lost in that world when there’s like my name big across the middle of the image. It’s like, okay, an hour and a half of that but but has it felt collaborative like it hasn’t felt like they’ve been, they’ve honored your original vision for for the wild robot to the to the best of their ability? Yeah, you know, Movie making is a different animal entirely. And so I’m not naive either. I actually worked in animation before I got my first book deal. I wanted to work in animated movies before I knew I decided I wanted to make kids books. I have a lot of understanding of the process. And so all you could really hope for is that they capture the sort of spirit, as they say, of the story. 

And they did that. And they did more than that. I mean, there’s a lot of the main characters there. Ra’s the robot, her son, Brightville. A lot of our other favorite animal characters are part of it. But there are some changes. In the book, there are these three bears, Mother Bear and her offspring, Nettle and Thorn. And in the movie, they combine those three bears into basically one character named Thorn. So rather than three bear characters, there’s one big angry bear named Thorn. Those kinds of changes… Makes sense, you know, because they don’t have the luxury of like, I could take my time and draw out these different scenes and these characters. But a movie, actually, all things considered, is kind of a short story. You have to tell a big thing in like an hour and a half. And so you’ve got to cut everything that isn’t necessary to that story. And so they made some changes like what I just described with the bears some other things. So it is not an absolute recreation of my original story. 

But they, I think, really captured the spirit of watching this robotic character adapt to life in the wilderness and then make a whole kind of community for herself. And then for her mysterious past to kind of come roaring back and kind of catch up with her at the end of the story. So I feel pretty good about the way all things considered. I feel pretty good about it. And the changes that they’ve made don’t really upset me very much. So, I mean, it’s a little hard to be honest. Of course, it’s my baby. These books are like my baby. So any change just sort of like, I sort of think to myself, well, that’s too bad, but it’s totally unavoidable, right? And so it’s been a good lesson for me in just kind of appreciating this moment and like letting go a little bit and having fun with it and not feeling like I have to micromanage. I mean, I couldn’t micromanage these guys anyway. They’re experts at what they do. So, yeah. So it’s been an interesting experience for me. But overall, I’m really pleased with the way it’s turned out. Yeah. 

That’s amazing. I keep thinking of that moment in Saving Mr. Banks when the author is watching her story of Mary Poppins on the screen. And just having that real moment of knowing the characters are there, but it’s still, it’s your story. And just there’s all those emotions captured. That’s incredible. Before we go, I would love to know, just for our teachers as they’re working through these stories with their own students, what are some themes that you hope the children explore in the Wild Robots series? 

That’s a good question. I think that the theme that I feel strongest about throughout this story is probably going to sound a little hokey, but Roz, in the book, in the beginning, the animals think of her as a monster. They refer to her as a monster before they get to know her. And she sort of wins them over. But in the beginning, they’re mean to her. They’re rude to her. They’re afraid of her. They want nothing to do with her. And she comes to the conclusion that she needs them in order to survive. This is a tough, rugged, wild place. And the only way for her to survive is if she has some sort of a community around her. So they can look out for each other. And so she goes about trying to make that community for herself, right? She goes about being kind to animals who aren’t kind to her with the hope that eventually they’ll let down their guard and they’ll accept her and she can start creating friendships and relationships and that kind of community for herself in this wild island. And so she really kind of learns that kindness for her is part of her survival strategy. Being kind to others helps her survive. And I love that, you know, like that’s another one of those things that i didn’t set out to write that moral or that theme but um but i saw it in there and i loved it. So I, you know i i developed it more once i kind of noticed it bubbling up from the story. And I just think that that’s a good way to be, you know, I, I, uh, it sounds a little hokey, like i said, but in this world, you know, there’s a lot wrong with this world and we need each other and we got to just find a way to kind of look past the differences and see what really matters in each other and hold on to those things and nurture those relationships. And so the idea of kindness is like a survival strategy is one of the more meaningful themes in the story for me. And I hope that it could be for other people too. 

I love that. I love that. Well, Peter, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. And thank you for writing these books. They’re just to be cherished. 

Thank you. My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.