At first, I thought The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess would be a “girl power” story. The fact the featured inventor of the story was female, hinted at that. And of course, the witch is also female. But later, I felt this book was a bit chauvinist with the Log Princess just forgiving her Wooden Robot brother very easily for the (understandable) mistake he has made. Yes, we make mistakes, and forgiveness is good, but it was the tone that was of putting.
There also seemed like Tom Gauld’s picture book would have several or at least one big fairy tale/folk tale adventure as it starts with the usual “King and Queen want a child” story. Even Thumbelina had to fight off the advances of a Frog (or was it a Toad?). But all the adventures that the Log Princess and Wooden Robot siblings’ encounter are summarized in two to four pages (the page is filled with panels as they deal with babies in trees, monsters, and such but Gauld does not show anything but a thumbnail). The Robot at least has the adventure of finding his sister that we see. Even if it is somewhat slow (due to the fact the princess will turn into a log when she is asleep, we are sitting there watching the robot look at logs). And which would have had a much quicker ending if he just said, the Magic Words that wake the princess in the first place. Or of course, not forgotten her in the beginning as it was his job to wake her every morning.
Overall, I am not sure what to think of this book. There seems to be no moral. And I am not sure why I should care about these characters. The illustrations are lovely, and they do make for pleasant visual stimulation. Read yourself and see what you think.