Review: Wild Bird
Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen Age Range: 12 & up Release Date: September 5, 2017 Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers 9781101940440 “‘Sometimes it doesn’t take much for what’s dormant to bloom.’” Fourteen-year-old Wren Clemens is alone. At least, that’s how it feels. She’s railing at her parents, railing at her sister, regularly getting drunk and high. She is in way too deep with shady friends-who-are-not-friends, and is now being dragged out of her bed at 4am and whisked off to wilderness therapy camp. Like that’s going to help. Wild Bird is a whirlwind of the best kind, the kind only Wendelin Van Draanen ( Sammy Keyes , Flipped , The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones ) can bring to life. Wren (yes… like the bird) has a tremendously difficult journey ahead of her, and while at first she fights and screams and rages, it soon becomes clear that the harsh Utah desert will eat her alive if she doesn’t slow down and accept a little help. She will make progres...