Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Van Draanen, Wendelin. WILD BIRD New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2017 IL 5-8 ISBN 9781101940440 (2 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Tough love. That’s what 14-year-old Wren Clemens wakes up to in the middle of the night. Wren’s drinking, drug use, risk-taking and completely out of control behavior have wreaked havoc on her family and forced her parents to do something drastic: send her to an 8-week wilderness rehabilitation camp in the middle of the Utah desert! Wren is angry and uncooperative – no one, not her parents, not the camp counselors and not her fellow campers are going to tell her what to do. She doesn’t have a problem. Wren quickly learns that, like most things, you can’t do the Utah wilderness alone. In order to survive, Wren will have to set her ego aside and accept help. If she can do that, she’ll learn more than just how to put up a tent and start a fire; she’ll learn how she got here, who she is and most importantly, who she can choose to be. Wendelin Van Draanen, author of Flipped and The Running Dream, give us Wild Bird, an uplifting story of redemption, forgiveness and second chances. Readers who enjoy stories of survival and overcoming obstacles will love Wild Bird! (Heather Nelson, McKnight Middle School https://evergreenbookaward.org/) Booktalk #2 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. ( Prepared by: Kay Falls, York Intermediate School, kfalls@york.k12.sc.us for South Carolina Book Award)
	SUBJECTS: Problem youth -- Fiction. Adventure therapy -- Fiction. Desert survival -- Fiction. Utah -- Fiction.

Van Draanen, Wendelin.
WILD BIRD
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2017
IL 5-8
ISBN 9781101940440

(2 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Tough love. That’s what 14-year-old Wren Clemens wakes up to in the middle of the night. Wren’s drinking, drug use, risk-taking and completely out of control behavior have wreaked havoc on her family and forced her parents to do something drastic: send her to an 8-week wilderness rehabilitation camp in the middle of the Utah desert! Wren is angry and uncooperative – no one, not her parents, not the camp counselors and not her fellow campers are going to tell her what to do. She doesn’t have a problem. Wren quickly learns that, like most things, you can’t do the Utah wilderness alone. In order to survive, Wren will have to set her ego aside and accept help. If she can do that, she’ll learn more than just how to put up a tent and start a fire; she’ll learn how she got here, who she is and most importantly, who she can choose to be. Wendelin Van Draanen, author of Flipped and The Running Dream, give us Wild Bird, an uplifting story of redemption, forgiveness and second chances. Readers who enjoy stories of survival and overcoming obstacles will love Wild Bird! (Heather Nelson, McKnight Middle School https://evergreenbookaward.org/)

Booktalk #2

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. ( Prepared by: Kay Falls, York Intermediate School, kfalls@york.k12.sc.us for South Carolina Book Award)

SUBJECTS:   Problem youth -- Fiction.
                        Adventure therapy -- Fiction.
                        Desert survival -- Fiction.
                        Utah -- Fiction.