review: wild bird by wendelin van draanen

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review



Review:
Wild Bird isn’t the first book I’ve read about a troubled teen being sent to a wilderness therapy camp but it is one of the better ones.

It’s hyper focused on Wren’s anger at what she sees as a betrayal and the incidents that led to her parents taking desperate action to save her. There’s no budding romance – no convoluted drama within the camp…just good old introspection and healing.

Wren is a very angry girl. She doesn’t take any responsibility for her actions as she falls in with the wrong friends. She does horrible things to her family like taking and dealing drugs, stealing, lying and destruction of property – all while never taking the blame.

It would be easy to dislike Wren but Draanen does a great job at showing how a disruptive move and changing family dynamic makes Wren vulnerable to this type of behavior. I saw a lot of my teen self in Wren. Her parents, while not awful – don’t really understand how difficult it is for her to change schools and live in the shadow of her perfect sister.

I didn’t agree with her actions but I understood where she was coming from and as an adult – I can empathize with her parents as well.

The Utah desert camp setting makes Wren learn to rely on herself, gain confidence, work with others and learn skills that will hopefully translate when she goes back home.

Like I said, there’s no big drama like girl’s fighting (in fact they are quite supportive even if they are at the different levels of progress), no boy riding in “to see the real Wren” and save her. She does all the hard work by herself.

This makes for a somewhat quieter novel but I liked that.

This was a short story that hits all the right notes without getting bogged down in a lot of unnecessary drama. It would be a great book for teens that are on that edge of anger and turning to the wrong sources for love and friendship – and for parents who are frustrated at their teens for *suddenly* lashing out. Wild Bird shows that actions/inaction has consequences but that there’s also a way out if you choose to take it.