Wildoak
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When the fates of a snow leopard, a child, and an ancient forest collide, the unimaginable can happen. Perfect for fans of Pax and The One and Only Ivan.
**Winner of the 2023 Schneider Family Book Award!**
* "Nuanced and empowering." - Publisher's Weekly, starred review
* "Memorably atmospheric." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Immersive." - The Horn Book
"Vibrant, emotional storytelling." - School Library Connection, highly recommended
Maggie Stephens's stutter makes school especially hard. She will do almost anything to avoid speaking in class or calling attention to herself. So when her unsympathetic father threatens to send her away for so-called "treatment," she reluctantly agrees to her mother's intervention plan: a few weeks in the fresh air of Wildoak Forest, visiting a grandfather she hardly knows. It is there, in an extraordinary twist of fate, that she encounters an abandoned snow leopard cub, an exotic gift to a wealthy Londoner that proved too wild to domesticate. But once the cub's presence is discovered by others, danger follows, and Maggie soon realizes that time is running out, not only for the leopard, but for herself and the forest as well.
Told in alternating voices, Wildoak shimmers with beauty, compassion, and unforgettable storytelling as it explores the delicate interconnectedness of the human, animal, and natural worlds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Themes of compassion and conservation form the heartbeat of Harrington's eloquent 1963 England-set debut. Self-conscious about others' cruel reactions to her stutter, 11-year-old Margaret Stephens impales her hand with a sharp pencil to get out of reading aloud. After her misunderstood behavior leads to her dismissal from a third school in two years, her parents send Maggie from London to her doctor grandfather's cottage in rural Cornwall. If she doesn't improve, her gruff father indicates, she'll be sent to Granville—an institution that's rumored to engage in mistreatment. In the countryside, animal-loving Maggie bonds with her grandfather and finds solace in nearby Wildoak Forest, where she befriends a dumped snow leopard cub, Rumpus, as the woods face imminent destruction from toxic copper mining. Alternating third-person chapters follow Rumpus, depicting his harrowing journey from Harrods department store to the wild. Both character arcs sparkle with life thanks to Harrington's poignant, immersive prose. Maggie's work to speak in defense of Rumpus and Wildoak resounds with realism, building to a nuanced and empowering ending that reverberates with foresight. Sudyka's starkly elegant ink illustrations focus on the natural world; human characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Author's agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown.
