Wildoak

Themes of compassion and conservation form the heartbeat of Harrington’s eloquent 1963 England-set debut. Self-conscious about others’ cruel reactions to her stutter, 11-year-old Margaret Stephens impales her hand with a sharp pencil to get out of reading aloud. After her misunderstood behavior leads to her dismissal from a third school in two years, her parents send Maggie from London to her doctor grandfather’s cottage in rural Cornwall. If she doesn’t improve, her gruff father indicates, she’ll be sent to Granville—an institution that’s rumored to engage in mistreatment. In the countryside, animal-loving Maggie bonds with her grandfather and finds solace in nearby Wildoak Forest, where she befriends a dumped snow leopard cub, Rumpus, as the woods face imminent destruction from toxic copper mining. Alternating third-person chapters follow Rumpus, depicting his harrowing journey from Harrods department store to the wild. Both character arcs sparkle with life thanks to Harrington’s poignant, immersive prose. Maggie’s work to speak in defense of Rumpus and Wildoak resounds with realism, building to a nuanced and empowering ending that reverberates with foresight. Sudyka’s starkly elegant ink illustrations focus on the natural world; human characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. [em]Author’s agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Sept.) [/em]