Status
Available
Genres
Collections
Publication
Ember (2019), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Description
Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:From the award-winning author of The Running Dream and Flipped comes a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp. 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. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right. 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 read Wild Bird in one long mesmerized gulp. Wren will break your heart�and then mend it." �Nancy Werlin, National Book Award finalist for The Rules of Survival "Van Draanen�s Wren is real and relatable, and readers will root for her." �VOYA, starred review.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member acargile
This novel is written by the author of Running Dream, which has been checked out so many times that the copies are falling apart! Fans of Van Draanen will like this novel as well.
Wren is awakened at 3:47 a.m. and taken from her home--with permission from her parents--to see if she can be
In the many weeks Wren will be in the wilderness, she must decide why she does what she does and whether she wants to change. The adults are there to help, but the teens cannot transfer blame. They are responsible for their food and water. The idea is to be removed from the triggers that have created the anger or dependencies and learn to survive. With survival comes strength; hopefully, this is the strength that will enable them to return home and thrive. After building her first fire, Wren meets some of the other girls, learning what others have been through and are struggling to move beyond. With each step, Wren can try and see if she can be helped or refuse the help.
I found the novel so hard to put down that I read it straight through in two hours. I like Van Draanen’s books because they are about the strength we don’t know we have within to conquer what some people feel will destroy us. You’ll like the novel.
Wren is awakened at 3:47 a.m. and taken from her home--with permission from her parents--to see if she can be
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straightened out and saved. Wren has lied and done many things that show she is on the path to destroying herself. Her parents desperately cling to one hope--wilderness therapy. Transported by car, plane, and car again, Wren finds herself in the middle of nowhere. As a new arrival, Wren is left alone until she can build a fire by herself. It’s a very long day filled with the unknown and then at the end of the day, there’s no one to help. Helplessness and anger are the only emotions Wren is capable of when she arrives.In the many weeks Wren will be in the wilderness, she must decide why she does what she does and whether she wants to change. The adults are there to help, but the teens cannot transfer blame. They are responsible for their food and water. The idea is to be removed from the triggers that have created the anger or dependencies and learn to survive. With survival comes strength; hopefully, this is the strength that will enable them to return home and thrive. After building her first fire, Wren meets some of the other girls, learning what others have been through and are struggling to move beyond. With each step, Wren can try and see if she can be helped or refuse the help.
I found the novel so hard to put down that I read it straight through in two hours. I like Van Draanen’s books because they are about the strength we don’t know we have within to conquer what some people feel will destroy us. You’ll like the novel.
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LibraryThing member Kristelh
Wren is the middle daughter of her family. She finds herself alone after a move to a new town and new school. Her older sister no longer had time for her and her parents are busy working. She does love telling her younger brother stories but she has no friends in school. One day a girl named Meadow
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befriends her and the friendship leads her into using pot, drinking alcohol, carrying heroin to users, and shoplifting to support her own habit. She wakes up after an evening of raging to find herself escorted to a wilderness survival camp in Utah. This is the story of Wren's experience as she fights her way back. Read this (audio) in one day. It was a very moving story. Show Less
LibraryThing member GRgenius
A moving tale that'll rip your heart out, trounce it a time or two, and help you find the scattered pieces to create a masterpiece that is all YOU.
Wren (and her family, for that matter) do not have an easy time of it. There's physical moves, social climbing, and what should have been new
It's truly a journey of heart, mind, and soul, that leads to surprising realizations for Wren (and the Grizzly Girls) ... but will also spark conversations in our here and now. Great read for Middle Grade fans and beyond for the story itself as well as the messages it brings.
**copy received for review
Wren (and her family, for that matter) do not have an easy time of it. There's physical moves, social climbing, and what should have been new
Show More
beginnings... that just didn't turn out the way it was intended. Seeking acceptance outside of herself, Wren falls in with the wrong crowd... and without a solid support system, she's almost lost to them all. Good thing they weren't ready to give up on her. Despite the fact she's dragged kicking and screaming into the desert to face goodness only knows what with who knows who, that lack of kid gloves may be just what the doctor ordered. The requirement of depending on herself as well as learning to say "yes, I need help" are just a few of the keys to unlocking her past, understanding her present, and realizing her future.It's truly a journey of heart, mind, and soul, that leads to surprising realizations for Wren (and the Grizzly Girls) ... but will also spark conversations in our here and now. Great read for Middle Grade fans and beyond for the story itself as well as the messages it brings.
**copy received for review
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
At first I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book - 14-year-old Wren, the main character & narrator of the story, wasn't very likeable. In the end, though, it is an uplifting story and I thought that the author made a bold & important choice with Wren. Unlike many of the other girls at the
Being an adult reader of this YA novel, in some ways I couldn't help feeling sympathy for her parents - I can imagine the situation at the start of the book as being one parents of teenagers have nightmares about.
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camp, Wren doesn't have a dysfunctional family or a history of some terrible abuse which caused her to turn to drugs and alcohol. That doesn't make her pain and anger any less real or her need for this intervention less urgent but it does make her a character that more readers (both teens and adults) can identify with. Being an adult reader of this YA novel, in some ways I couldn't help feeling sympathy for her parents - I can imagine the situation at the start of the book as being one parents of teenagers have nightmares about.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
At first I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book - 14-year-old Wren, the main character & narrator of the story, wasn't very likeable. In the end, though, it is an uplifting story and I thought that the author made a bold & important choice with Wren. Unlike many of the other girls at the
Being an adult reader of this YA novel, in some ways I couldn't help feeling sympathy for her parents - I can imagine the situation at the start of the book as being one parents of teenagers have nightmares about.
Show More
camp, Wren doesn't have a dysfunctional family or a history of some terrible abuse which caused her to turn to drugs and alcohol. That doesn't make her pain and anger any less real or her need for this intervention less urgent but it does make her a character that more readers (both teens and adults) can identify with. Being an adult reader of this YA novel, in some ways I couldn't help feeling sympathy for her parents - I can imagine the situation at the start of the book as being one parents of teenagers have nightmares about.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ewyatt
Wren gets taken in the middle of the night to a juvenile boot camp in the desert. When she's grabbed she's angry, drunk, and her parents are kind of at the end of their ropes. Over the eight weeks she's in the program, she transforms physically and emotionally.
Her change begins to transform her
There is action in the outdoor survival things she learns. But a lot of the change is intra and interpersonal.
Compelling.
Her change begins to transform her
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relationship with herself and the relationship with the rest of her family. There is action in the outdoor survival things she learns. But a lot of the change is intra and interpersonal.
Compelling.
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Pages
336