Review: Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen

Title: Wild Bird 

Author:  Wendelin Van Draanen
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date: September 5th, 2017

Pages: 320
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction 

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  Audio

 

3:47 a.m. That’s when they come for Wren Clemmens. 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 anymore. 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.

I am not sure how I came across this book but I did and it was just recently. I am not sure how I missed it when it came out. I adore this author. I was pretty excited and I mean really that blurb. Wow sounds like a fun book. It was too. Fun and emotional, oh what an emotional ride. I enjoyed this book from the first page to the last page. 

Wren is a feisty 14-year old that has found herself in a lot of trouble. She drinks, she does drugs, she gets in trouble everywhere she goes, she is reckless and has some violent tendencies. Her parents are hopeless and do the only thing they can think of which is desert boot camp. Wren is stuck in the desert having to find a way to make her own fire before she can cook food, put up a tent and keep it dry, find fresh water, and be a part of a community. She must find respect for herself and others and find who she really wants to be in life. 

So I just loved loved loved this book. I really knew I would or had a feeling I would. I loved The Running Dream and I love emotional books and I knew this one would be emotional and it was. This book was about finding one's truth, finding acceptance, finding forgiveness, finding a place where you make a difference. It's about love and learning. 

Wren is a loveable character. Yes, in the beginning, I wanted to slap her. I mean she was a mess and only 14 years of age. I think this is what made me feel for her though. How can someone so young be such a mess? I mean she is hurting and broken. 

As the story progresses we learn Wren's truth. What I love about this story is the fact Wren didn't have a bad family life. She lived in a nice house with good parents and loving sister. Everything that broke Wren, well it was her perspective. I think her parents noticed things were wrong a little too late but they didn't do anything or not do something that broke Wren. It was just the fact that loneliness and hating oneself came when changes happened in her life and it was just the magical combination of disaster for a young girl.  I like that nothing big happened in her life that just made all her angst and sadness acceptable. She was just troubled and troubled can come from everything right in a teens life. It is what it is and we just have to love and accept and forgive and also find a way to help. 

This is what Wren's parents did. The decisions they made was the best one for Wren. She was able to get away from those friends that weren't really friends, the bad life she was living, the drugs and alcohol. She was able to be somewhere she could find others that were broken and needing help, adults who really cared and didn't have to. A different way of living and different way to make choices. 

This story was so good. I loved the journey. This is really what you get with this book. A journey. There is friendship, there is family. There is no romance and there is no finding the one person to make your life better. This was a journey of oneself and also the acceptance of help from others. 

IT WAS GOOD! 

A real feel good warm fuzzy that's a tear in my eye kind of read! 

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Warner Brothers feature film with Rob Reiner directing. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.

Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books—featuring a boy who deals with a bully—received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie.

Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.