Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The most important potentially concerning aspect of this book comes near the end. The story takes an interesting, but likely unexpected shift and contains a series of action and content that may surprise and bother some younger and/or more sensitive readers. The robot Roz, who has had a peaceful experience in nature for the first 90% of the book, finds himself being hunted by other robots and he and his animal friends must defend themselves (destroy the other robots) to protect him. — During the winter season Roz finds multiple animals who have frozen to death (the book specifically mentions “corpses”). The reader is told that this is likely just a few of the many who have met this fate. While this leads to a very nice development where Roz helps find a solution to save many more, it is still something that some parents may not feel their younger child is ready for. There are other related comments sprinkled into the dialog, such as “all living things die” and “by then we will all be dead, even me” (referring to a long time passing). The first human we meet is not shown in a good light and ends up shooting a beloved goose character with a rifle in a dramatic scene. During the robot scene at the end (see above) one of the new robots threatens to “squeeze the life out of” one of the animals. — There are just a few minor instances to be aware of. At one point a husband animal makes a decision and is immediately contradicted by his wife (making the point that she is in charge). A ship is destroyed at sea which, while not described in detail, may be an idea that will frighten some. One character says that “nobody can actually come back from the dead”, which as Christians we know is certainly not the full story (this is an important line to discuss with your children). A few times we hear unfortunate comments around implying that kids at certain ages are moody or a handful. There is a comment that the waters around the island are rising each year, but the cause is never implied or explained.