I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen Published by Random House Children's Books on September 5th 2017
Pages: 320
Amazon-Indiebound
Goodreads
3:47 a.m. That's when they come for Wren Clemens. She's hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who've gone so far off the rails, their parents don't know what to do with them any more. This is wilderness therapy camp.
The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter, and blaming everyone but herself. But angry can't put up a tent. And bitter won't start a fire. Wren's going to have to admit she needs help if she's going to survive.
In her most incisive and insightful book yet, beloved author Wendelin Van Draanen's offers a remarkable portrait of a girl who too a wrong turn and got lost--but who may be able to find her way back again in the vast, harsh desert.
Today I’m sharing my review for the blog tour of Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen.
My Thoughts:
I’ve been a huge fan of Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen for years, yet I’ve never read anything else by her. The summary for Wild Bird caught my attention and I decided to finally rectify that! For some reason the desert wilderness therapy camp aspect really appealed to me. It made me think of the books about survival that I loved when I was younger (Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphins, etc…) I was interested to see how being forced on a wilderness camp adventure would change the main character.
The Wren at the beginning of the book is vastly different from the Wren at the end. And thank goodness for that! When we first meet her she is in a really terrible place, but cannot really see how her actions brought her there. As an adult it’s hard to see how she blames everyone else (with some merit) but never takes any responsibility. She sees her outrageous actions as right. I’m not saying this is a flaw. Quite the opposite actually. It’s 100% realistic to what a troubled teen girl would do. It was just so hard to see how very lost she is. I loved seeing her grow and change.
I also really loved seeing Wren experience a true friendship for the first time. She is able to see how toxic the people in her life before were. The wilderness aspect and how it forces you to work with others really pushes her to be more honest and open than she has in years. The development of her friendship with another camper really helps Wren to see herself more clearly and to gain confidence in who she is and her own strength.
Wild Bird was an interesting read that had me rooting for the main character (and the other girls at the camp as well!)
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