The Secret Wild

By Author / Illustrator

Alex Evelyn, George Ermos

Genre

Environment

Age range(s)

Publisher

Walker Books Ltd

ISBN

9781406399394

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

05-05-2022

Synopsis

A fantastical, botanical adventure about friendship, bravery - and finding home in a new place. Fern has spent her whole life in the rainforest, and loves nothing more than climbing, exploring and talking to the trees. When she suddenly has to leave all that behind and move to London, with only an eccentric uncle for company, Fern feels entirely uprooted. But when she meets a little plant that can understand her every word, it seems that things are looking up! That is until strange things start happening in the city: giant lily pads on the Thames, monkey vines on the London Eye, and now her new friend is starting to wilt... Can they solve this growing mystery together - before it's too late?

"I think kids are going to go wild about this book! It's a real page-turner with oodles of heart - pacy, intriguing and full of fun." Sophie Kirtley, author of The Wild Way Home

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Reviews

Life for Fern is not like other girls' lives, her parents are botanists, and she has grown up travelling the world as they find and study rare plants. It's the only life Fern has ever known. She loves plants, she talks to plants, and she dearly hopes that one day, plants will communicate with her too. But when she disobeys her father and puts herself in danger, her parents decide to send her to live with her uncle in London. There she will be safe while they continue their research, there she will go to school and meet other children. Fern is not looking forward to it at all.

How will she find the forests and plants that she craves in a city? And how will she ever learn to wear shoes? And yet, when she reaches London, it isn't the concrete jungle that she is expecting. Something strange is happening. Overnight huge plants are appearing and taking over the sights of the city. They say it's the guerrilla gardener but whoever it is, something needs to be done about it, and soon, before London is completely rewilded. In her attempts to dig to the root of the problem, Fern unearths a dark and menacing secret that once again puts her life in danger. And at the heart of it all lies Special, the seedling that claimed her for its own.

Alex Evelyn creates a fabulous story in The Secret Wild that takes the reader on a thrilling journey. She raises the importance of plants to epic proportions and seamlessly grafts this adventure, with a sprinkling of light-hearted humour, engaging characters and environmental awareness. I'm sure that The Secret Wild will flourish as readers soak up the plight of Fern and her plant, Special. Curriculum links: environmental issues, rewilding, family, friendship, independence, teamwork, overcoming personal challenges, choices.

304 Pages / Reviewed by Donna Burkert