This month's Kitchen Table pick is The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, read aloud in short chapters, with one question at each stop. Page count pending. A robot washes up on an island and learns to be a parent. Short chapters, big questions.
July 2026 pick. Last updated 19 August 2026.
Why this one
The chapters are two pages long, which makes it forgiving on a night when everyone is tired. Underneath the simple sentences it is a book about learning a role nobody trained you for, and about what makes something family. An eight-year-old will bring that up on their own.
Roz is not built to be a mother and does it anyway. Kids notice that before you say a word about it.
Tonight's question
Roz was not made to be a mother. What made her one anyway?
Open the kid's page in big type
The pace planner
Work out when you finish
Set your start date and your honest nightly minutes. It saves in this browser only.
- Per night
- 12 pages
- Per week
- 84 pages
- You finish
- Saturday, October 1025 nights, about 4 weeks
We have not verified a page count for this edition, so the planner starts from your own copy. Change the number to match the book in your hand.
How long will it take at twenty minutes a night?
Page count pending for the edition we link, so we are not guessing the number of nights. at a modest pace, and the sheet's first question never depends on the ending. The twenty minutes a night system.
The discussion sheet
Dad's Book Club
Discussion sheet
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
The Kitchen Table. July 2026.
If you only ask one
Roz was not made to be a mother. What made her one anyway?
- Night one, the arrival. The animals are frightened of Roz before she does anything. Why are we scared of things that are only different?
- Night two, learning to speak. Roz learns by listening for a long time before she talks. When is listening the smarter move?
- Night three, Brightbill. Roz decides to raise a gosling she did not ask for. What makes someone a parent?
- Night four, the island in winter. The animals shelter together in Roz's lodge. What does it take for enemies to help each other?
- Night five, learning to fly. Brightbill has to leave to become himself. Why is that hard for both of them?
- Night six, the truth about the egg. Roz tells Brightbill something that will hurt him. When should you tell the truth even then?
- Night seven, the RECOs arrive. Roz will not fight the way they want her to. What does she value more?
- Night eight, the goodbye. What do you think Roz learned that a robot is not supposed to be able to learn?
- If a robot lived at our house for a year, what is the first thing it would need to learn about us?
dadsbookclub.com · July 2026
If you liked this
Endurance
Alfred Lansing · The Shelf
The same month on the shelf, sized for you. Shackleton loses the ship and saves every man. The best book about leadership that never uses the word.
What to read after it
The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
For the kid who reached the last page and asked immediately.
Pax by Sara Pennypacker
For the kid who liked the animals and can take something sadder.
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