I am not going to lie, “The Wild Robot” in the beginning was a very dry book for me to get through, but as the plot developed more and more it grew on me. The book, “What Makes a Monster” grabbed me from the very first page and kept my interest as I have never heard of some of these animals and creatures before. Some of these things that they could do sound like they came straight out of a SyFy movie.
“The Wild Robot’s” special meaning that it convey’s to me is about perspective and how important it is to see situations from different ones and not just your own. The animals saw Roz as a monster. Miriam Web defines a monster as “one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character.” With the animals only seeing with their one minded perspective they almost missed out on seeing what Roz could offer their community. The same goes for the book “What Makes a Monster”, we view these creatures and things that we would probably never think of going near. In our perspective they are probably seen as awful horrid creatures, but in another perspective, they are simply using the tools that nature has given to them and surviving like you and I, they are even helping our world by controlling some organism populations. If we don’t challenge ourselves to think boldly and outside of the box then we will never grow. Because if we don’t challenge ourselves, then what won’t become a monster to us? I think that this is absolutely a lesson that is worthwhile to teach to elementary schoolers. They don’t see the world as critically as we do yet. Their thoughts and actions come from experiences, but mostly from hearing and seeing people do things. If we show them and encourage them to see things from other people’s points of view and not just their own, it will hopefully lead to a more forgiving, coexisting, and humble world that we live in. This story relates much to our world today as we are going through a struggle with accepting people into our country and space who are different. This book does an excellent job of teaching tolerance and acceptance, which is something that is greatly lacking in our society today. It shows what good and change that difference can bring and how wonderful and beneficial it can be, but also stresses that we must be willing to open up and grow. Roz, was the star of this book and for more ways than one. I believe that any child and/or person who has ever been an outcast can see themselves in her. Roz, not only grapples with trying to adapt and survive in her new home, but how to survive socially by building relationships and gaining acceptance within the community. Roz, eventually evolves when challenges are put in front of her and she has no choice, but to evolve to survive, but she also grows the most in personality when we see her doing the right and humane thing. I have been Roz before. I have been the person that everybody talks about, but doesn’t talk to, and have been shamed because of my differences. But like Roz, I evolved and I grew and eventually blossomed. This book definitely met my expectations about what makes a good children’s book, it draws you in, has an interesting topic, illustrations, and a good plot.
I learned so many cool and new interesting facts throughout the whole book, “What Makes a Monster.” The zombie fungus was probably one of the most cooling and bizzar thing I have ever read about a living thing being able to do. I knew that all of this information was factual by all of the sources in the back from all of the research that they author did. Even though this book was strictly factual, to me the overall meaning of it was that we too as humans are monsters and perhaps our own worst enemy and that monsters aren’t just creatures that sound like they have come straight out of a SyFy thriller. This book I think is what I would define as a good children’s book. It is full of color and illustrations that catch the eye and draw in the readers attention and it talks about interesting creatures that they have probably never heard about.
The two articles related well with each other. In the article “Story As a World Making” the author is clear to point out that every aspect of our lives, society, and world come from story. They also make the point very clear that we must learn to embrace everybody’s different stories and cultures. The second article, “Readers Can Do Anything” it tries to get at the point of if our differences aren’t recognized, met, and helped then people and things will suffer. If we don’t find a way to make our different stories fit and coexist then are world is in for a rude awakening.
The one lesson that I would want to teach my kids from both of these books is about perspective as I think it is a reoccurring theme in both books. The activity that I would do would be to have two students stand across from each other. I would then put a piece of paper with the number six down in-between them. I would then ask what number they each saw. One should say six and the other should say nine. I would then point out that none of them are wrong and that they saw different numbers because of their points of view and perspectives, but that their perspective isn’t the only way to look at things and that we should always recognize as human begins that we should challenge ourselves to see another light to things.
References
Brown, P. (2016). The Wild Robot. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
Keating, J. (2017). What Makes A Monster. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Short, Kathy G. “Story as World Making.” vol. 90, no. 1, Sept. 2012.
Sharp, Colby. “Readers Can Do Anything: Our Children’s Literature Day Lunch Keynote on the transformative impact of a good book.” Literacy Today, June 2018.
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