Status
Checked out
Genres
Publication
Flying Eye Books (2013), Hardcover, 32 pages
Description
The story of a little girl who has known nothing but nature from birth. Bears taught her to eat, birds to speak, foxes to play; she is unabashedly, irrefutably, irrespressibly Wild. That is, until one day she meets a new animal that looks oddly like her...
User reviews
LibraryThing member kornelas1
One day a baby mysteriously appears in the wild, no one knew how she came to be there, “but all knew it was right.” The book takes you through the lessons she learns through interacting with the wildlife of the forest. The colorful spreads are reminiscent of children’s drawings with the soft,
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sketchy texture of colored pencils. The illustrations tend towards cartoony, but instead of detracting from the story, they lend the foliage and fauna emotions that bring the forest to life as a thriving character. One day, hunters find the small girl in the forest and place her in the care of a psychologist who intends to ‘civilize’ her. Needless to say, this civilizing endeavor does not go well. One day, sad and frustrated, she decides she’s had enough and leaves, an utterly destroyed house in her wake, “and all knew it was right.” In the full circle encompassed by the story, the narrative shows children it’s okay to be true to their own nature, to be spirited and alive. This lesson is most likely to be most helpful when placed in context by the reader; otherwise children may come to the incorrect conclusion that they should never behave. In this way, the story may be too complex for some children to handle appropriately, but it’s still heart-warming to encourage children to be children and remain happy and free. Recommended for additional selection. Show Less
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Raised in the wild by the animals of the forest, a young human girl is taught to speak by the birds, to eat by the bears and to play by the foxes. Then she is 'discovered' by two creatures just like her, who remove her from the forest and try to make her live like them. Their efforts prove futile
This debut from Hawaiian-born author/artist Emily Hughes put me strongly in mind of Marianne Mayer's The Boy Who Ran With the Gazelles, which also tells the story of a feral child who cannot be reclaimed by humanity after his many years running wild. Unlike so many other online reviewers (and perhaps even in contradiction of the creator's intention), I wasn't able to read Wild as affirmation of the beauty of the wilderness. Rather, I took away the message that human culture is a terribly fragile thing, one easily undermined and permanently lost, if a person's early childhood is too traumatic, or if they are separated from the rest of humanity at too young an age. There are a number of true stories from the pages of history and current events, both concerning feral children raised in the wild, and children raised in isolation by abusive human adults, that indicate that it is difficult to overcome such early experiences, and learn language, culture, and normal human behaviors. Intentional or not, this reads as a tragedy to me, albeit a beautifully-illustrated one, and I found myself scratching my head a bit at the many reviewers who seem oblivious to this, and parrot the "sometimes things are meant to be wild" line. I doubt they'd abandon their own infants in the forest, so they're no doubt reading this figuratively, rather than as an actual feral child story.
Responses will vary, of course, so I recommend people pick this one up and read it themselves, to see what they think.
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in the end, however, and she returns to the wild, where (the narrator informs us) she belongs...This debut from Hawaiian-born author/artist Emily Hughes put me strongly in mind of Marianne Mayer's The Boy Who Ran With the Gazelles, which also tells the story of a feral child who cannot be reclaimed by humanity after his many years running wild. Unlike so many other online reviewers (and perhaps even in contradiction of the creator's intention), I wasn't able to read Wild as affirmation of the beauty of the wilderness. Rather, I took away the message that human culture is a terribly fragile thing, one easily undermined and permanently lost, if a person's early childhood is too traumatic, or if they are separated from the rest of humanity at too young an age. There are a number of true stories from the pages of history and current events, both concerning feral children raised in the wild, and children raised in isolation by abusive human adults, that indicate that it is difficult to overcome such early experiences, and learn language, culture, and normal human behaviors. Intentional or not, this reads as a tragedy to me, albeit a beautifully-illustrated one, and I found myself scratching my head a bit at the many reviewers who seem oblivious to this, and parrot the "sometimes things are meant to be wild" line. I doubt they'd abandon their own infants in the forest, so they're no doubt reading this figuratively, rather than as an actual feral child story.
Responses will vary, of course, so I recommend people pick this one up and read it themselves, to see what they think.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kbarnes
Tells the story of a little girl who has known nothing but nature from birth. Bears taught her to eat, birds to speak, foxes to play; she is unabashedly, irrefutably, irrepressibly wild, until one day when she meets a new animal that looks oddly like her.
LibraryThing member liz.mabry
Really loved this. The illustrations were full of details, all the way to the edges of each page. The exploration of how different environments and lifestyles work for different people, rather than the more typical wild --> civilized = happy narrative, is convincing and much needed right now.
LibraryThing member Maryjojojo
I absolutely love this book. It's about a little girl who lives in the woods with the animals. One day, a family finds her and brings her home. They try to make her 'normal'--speaking correctly, playing with toys nicely, taking a bath, etc. She becomes very VERY unhappy and eventually completely
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destroys their house. AND THEN THEY PUT HER BACK IN THE WOODS! I thought that was absolutely hilarious! They were just like 'you know what, you're obviously not happy here. Your feelings are valid. You belong in the woods.' I can see how some parents may see this as promoting bad behavior to get what you want, but I see it more as 'everyone has feelings and thoughts, they might be different from yours, and that's okay. You should let everyone be themselves, even if it seems strange to you. Just because it's strange doesn't mean it's wrong.' It was also not lost on me that the girl exhibits behaviors often associated with Autism and other IDDs--nonverbal, struggles to express her feelings, plays with toys differently than expected, vocalizes in 'unusual' ways, etc. I love this book. So much. Show Less
Original publication date
2013
ISBN
1909263087 / 9781909263086