Wings in the Wild
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This gorgeously romantic contemporary novel-in-verse from award-winning author Margarita Engle tells the “inspiring and hopeful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) love story of two teens fighting for climate action and human rights.
Winged beings are meant to be free. And so are artists, but the Cuban government has criminalized any art that doesn’t meet their approval. Soleida and her parents protest this injustice with their secret sculpture garden of chained birds. Then a hurricane exposes the illegal art, and her parents are arrested.
Soleida escapes to Central America alone, joining the thousands of Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica while seeking asylum elsewhere. There she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy whose enigmatic music enchants birds and animals—and Soleida.
Together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba. Soon they discover that love isn’t about falling—it’s about soaring together to new heights. But wings can be fragile, and Soleida and Dariel come from different worlds. They are fighting for a better future—and the chance to be together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After a hurricane uncovers her parents' hidden sculptures of chained birds, leading to their arrest for violating Cuban policies regarding artistic liberty, Soleida is forced to flee alone. The 16-year-old travels through Central America before becoming stranded in a refugee camp in Costa Rica. Meanwhile, 16-year-old California native Dariel, the son of famous actors, enchants with his guitar, all while feeling trapped by his parents' fame and their plans for his life. When his fingertips are burned in a fire, rendering him unable to play his guitar, he joins his abuelo in interviewing a diasporic community called los Cubanos de Costa Rica for a forthcoming book. There, Dariel meets Soleida, and their shared passion for artistic freedom and eco-activism inspires them to start a human rights campaign; they seek to liberate Soleida's parents and other Cuban artists while saving the endangered wildlife and forests in Costa Rica. Employing stunningly immersive verse and distinct alternating perspectives, Engle (Singing with Elephants) sets Soleida and Dariel's developing relationship against a backdrop of advocacy to present a profoundly romantic read that prioritizes topical issues, such as environmental and refugee crises, and political oppression of artists. English- and Spanish-language editions publish simultaneously. Ages 12–up.
