The End of the Wild

by Nicole Helget

This timely coming of age novel takes on the controversial issues of fracking and environmental protection.

Stay away from my woods.

Eleven-year-old Fern doesn't have the easiest life. Her stepfather is out of work, and she's responsible for putting dinner on the table—not to mention keeping her wild younger brothers out of trouble. The woods near their home is her only refuge, where she finds food and plays with her neighbor's dog. But when a fracking company rolls into town, her special grove could be ripped away, and no one else seems to care.

Her stepfather needs the money that a job with the frackers could bring to their family, and her wealthy grandfather likes the business it brings to their town. Even her best friend doesn't understand what the land means to Fern. With no one on her side, how can she save the forest that has protected her for so long?

The acclaimed author of Wonder at the Edge of the World weaves a poignant story about life on the poverty line, the environment, friendship and family—and, most of all, finding your place in the world.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Family, Science, Nature, Environment, Poverty

288 pages, Library Binding

First published April 11, 2017

About the author

Born in 1976, Nicole Helget grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, a childhood and place she drew on in the writing of her memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways. She received her BA and an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Based on the novel's first chapter, NPR's Scott Simon awarded The Turtle Catcher the Tamarack Prize from Minnesota Monthly.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel by Nicole Helget could not have been more timely, with the republicans intent on slashing science funding, along with their denial of global warming. Helget's novel centers on the environmental impact of fracking. She develops all angles of this issue, including the economics for struggling families. Preserving nature is an evident and worthy cause as penned by Helget. I can't help but think of the alarm of a retiring science teacher at my school. He worries that national parks and the Boundary Waters will at risk in the hands of future--indifferent--generations; whereas, smartphones rule short attention spans. Even though health officials proclaim the health benefits of people exposing themselves to the tranquility of nature, the younger generations don't seem to have the interest in vesting themselves therein. Because of this attitude, Helget's remarkable novel sounds an alarm in regards of saving what is left of the natural world. I urge all to read this novel, so they can attempt to do something about its dire message. Not only that, but once again, Helget's prose is transparent, descriptive, and lively. Her setting, plot, and characterization are first rate. Although this is deemed a children's book, the literary layers resonate deeply. Helget is a marvelous writer, which is always evident in all her books.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is timely as it deals with the issue of fracking. Told from the point of view of an eleven-year-old girl living with her father in a poverty-stricken town. The struggling townspeople are divided as to whether or not to allow a fracking company in their area. On the plus side, it will create jobs and increase revenue. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of potentially ruining precious land. Fern is dead set against the infringement until her father seeks employment from the fracking company and she realizes not all choices are simple.
Although this book is yet to be released there is just something about the tone that makes it seem dated. Perhaps it is because of the poverty and Fern's love of the outdoors that make her seem to be of an earlier generation. This is not a bad thing, but I am not sure if her character will resonate with many of todays young readers. My favorite part of the book were the recipes handed down to Fern from her late mother, recipes utilizing the resources from the woods flanking their property. I think the sound of many of these dishes contributed to the feeling of an earlier era as some examples include: fried groundnuts and hen-of-the-woods, beechnut butter, and duck breast with fiddlehead ferns.
Warning! Vegans need not apply! There are some rather graphic scenes describing in gory detail Fern and her father butchering animals for food.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75✪'s
This is a lil gem of a book. Fantastic messages about poverty & the environment. The value of money versus the values of love & family. It also touches on grief & forgiveness.

[shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. I don’t think the writing was sensational, but it definitely pulled me in. I got so emotional, and related in the weirdest ways to the protagonist. Would definitely recommend!

[Liz Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So The End of The Wild by Nicole Helget is a really great, quick read. It follows eleven year old Fern who lives in great poverty with her brothers and stepfather at the edge of these woods. Fern’s tenacity, passion for the environment, and love of the natural world around her is visceral. You will deeply sympathize with Fern as she struggles to balance all the things in her life-- school, holding her family together, and wrestling with local environmental concerns. It’s from these woods that her families lives-- they hunt, gather, and forage to find food to survive, which comes into play with the first decision Fern must make. With the upcoming Science Technology Engineering and Math fair, Fern must choose what her project will focus on. This is a lot harder than it looks. Her teacher prompts her to choose something that’s incredibly important to her to focus on. And what’s the most important thing in Fern’s life? THE WOODS. Nature is an integral aspect of the family’s livelihood, and that becomes threatened when a hydro-fracking company comes to town. In general, Fern’s hometown is relatively impoverished, a struggling community who is just waiting for industry to return to restore its previous economic stability. And that’s where the problems lie. Hydro fracking promises to bring industry back to the community and Fern (and her friend’s families all around her) have to make a decision: is hydro fracking the miracle industry or is it a dangerous practice that will destroy the environment? This is a wonderful read that goes by quickly and addresses an increasingly important and timely issue. Hydro Fracking is something that is affecting numerous communities in the United States and across the globe. This book will certainly leaving you thinking about what you would do if you were in Fern’s shoes and leaves you rooting for Fern and her family as they are submerged in adversity!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fern carries a much heavier load than most eleven year old kids. Her mother and youngest brother died some time ago, and she has taken over her mother's responsibilities, helping her other brothers with their homework, preparing meals, paying bills and keeping their small home as neat as possible. Making this even harder is the fact that her father has difficulty keeping a job, so they are extremely poor, and Fern struggles to keep them all fed. Luckily they live way in the country, and Fern's mom taught her a lot about how to survive by eating different foods the woods provide. When a company sets up a fracking operation in those woods however, Fern realizes that her lifeline (and really her only peace) is threatened. While I thought Fern's amazing live-off-the-land abilities were a little exaggerated, I appreciated a story of a family struggling with very real poverty.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story about 12-year-old Fern, who forages for food (mushrooms, ramps, fiddleheads, morels, currants, plums, and more) in a nearby woodlot that her family depends on. Fern is sweet and plucky, and at only 12 must deal with multiple weighty issues. She lives with her dad and two little brothers in a small town in Michigan with few economic opportunities. Fracking is coming to town and the forest near her house may be cut down. This very nicely crafted novel packs an emotional punch and explores some of the benefits and costs of an extractive industry coming to town. I liked how much the marvelous bounty of nature came through in this book. Also, it contained a nice added element of recipes featuring wild edibles written down by one of the characters.

[Heather Albrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to teach this book someday. I am so excited by it. Why do I love it?
-young girl at home in the forest, identifying flora and fauna
- complex, blue-collar dad whose rough exterior belies his tender heart
-addresses challenges of being financially disadvantaged with heart, not judgement
- divisive environmental issues are shown how complex they are, there are no easy answers, both sides of the story are shown
-best friends take different stands on an issue and work through the discomfort of disagreement and remain best friends (and they are children!)
-includes diverse characters in a rural setting which more and more represents the rural demographic
-tough issues brought up at every turn while still leaving space for joy and fun

This is a book I needed when I was 10 years old. I am so glad I found it. I cannot wait to share it.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a unique food book and I sure found one. Fern knows the edible foods in the woods behind her house and forages to help feed her struggling family. A fracking company threatens to clear out the woods and the food source that Fern and her family rely on. But it also offers stable jobs. Tough choices.... This multi-layered book addresses poverty, education, natural resources, and conflicts between family, friends, and community. As a bonus, End of the Wild includes recipes from the forest that once belonged to Fern's mother. Starred reviews by Kirkus and PW. A solid good read.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The author has skillfully woven together complicated issues related to the environment, poverty, custody, friendship and prejudice. There is no sugar-coating in this story. I especially liked the way Fern's brothers are portrayed as wild and a little uncontrollable, as well as how the students in the class are at times realistically rude and thoughtless in their remarks. Fern herself is determined, caring and not afraid to question what is happening around her. The author's attention to detail is wonderful, and I was transported into the the story world by her lovely descriptions. It also was fun to learn about foraging in the wild.

[Laylah Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved it! I started crying a little after the part about the dog, but the ending made it better! I loved how Fern seems like she would do anything to stay with Toivo. It seems fun to make your own food with ingredients you got yourself instead of using money to by them.

[Kalley Sadler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very choppy but maybe that’s how young adult books are better received? It’s almost like each chapter was written independently and then put together without editing to make it all flow better. I like that it presented both sides and the recipes were interesting..definitely learned something.

[Jacob Vandervest · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could pick one book to be placed in every Little Free Library, it would be this one!

[Mary Schoeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how the story connects nature, relationships, and growing up.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad, yet inspirational story of forgiveness and letting go. I enjoyed this book immensely as did the fifth graders I read it to.

[Rebecca Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend and I read Helget's book aloud to each other on a long road trip. We both loved it. Although a few reviewers have said, "What? Another dead mother?", the heaviness of Fern's grief seems necessary to make Fern's discoveries about life and the weightiness of her coming-of-age really work. I was expecting the novel to be a full-on rant (metaphorically speaking; I know Helget well enough to know she wouldn't beat us over the head with her message) against fracking. Instead, she showed us clearly both sides of the issue. She couched both sides, wisely in two best friends' perspectives. I am reminded of F. Scott Fitzgerald's comment in "The Crack-up,": "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." This book does that.

Any book with dogs as a pivotal plot point wrenches my heart, so this book did that quite successfully, and believably. The outcomes of this story weren't cliche, but instead believable. My friend and I paused at the climax of the story, each trying to predict the final resolutions. We were only partly right, and happily surprised at how Helget worked against easy or predictable solutions.

My last comment here is that I've been working on a YA book about fracking for a few years, "Who the Frack is Maddie Jackson." My protagonist also has a close relationship with Muslim, and when Nicole came out with this book, the selfish part of me cried, "Wait! She stole my story!" But of course she didn't, our stories are very different, and now I actually hope readers of this story will look for mine when and if I ever get it published. In the meantime, I can't help but recommend this entirely. I'm hoping to use it in my Children's Lit. class this fall, somehow.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't read this if you're looking for a lighthearted story. I did like that it was an "issue" novel that wasn't overly preachy. But man, Fern's house made me feel cold and hungry.

[Emily Hawks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book had such an interesting premise, and I was really curious to see how a children's book would handle fracking. I wasn't prepared for there to be more issues at play than the environmental factor, and some were handled well while others left much to be desired. It was extremely realistic, which I guess is why it left me feeling so discouraged. There's not really a conclusion to anything - the fracking helps the poor and unemployed while destroying the environment that the same demographic relies on for resources.

I really found myself angry at the parenting situation as well. There was never an apology to our protagonist for making her step into a parenting role at such a young age. I was angry on her behalf. Instead, I felt the whole issue was brushed under the rug, which made me frustrated and unsatisfied at the end. I thought the father-daughter relationship might be closer to the one in Coyote Sunrise, but there was no catharsis like in Coyote's story. I almost wanted the kids to live with Grandpa, even knowing the kind of person he was. It felt like this book was trying to make the point that people and ideas are nuanced, but it ended up seeming like it was caught in the middle on all conflicts. It felt like a very centrist way of looking at things.

[Carissa Waida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to use as a launching point for nature study and to discuss foraging. It has much more to it than that though. This book confronts numerous complex issues and makes for great discussion material. I thought Helmet did a great job of balancing the competing issues. And an even better job refraining from drawing conclusions on those issues. She leaves that up to the reader. I think it would make a great read aloud.

[Jennybeast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, there's a lot to unpack in this book -- in a good way, too -- sophisticated stuff presented in an accessible narrative. Good page space, nicely broken up by recipes, so it never bogs down. 11 year old girl, Fern, with a prematurely grey hair streak. In 6th grade, with 2 younger brothers and a stepfather. Her mom and the baby died in a car accident some time previous.

Her wealthy grandfather is trying to get custody of the kids from the stepfather. Stepfather, Toivo, is an Iraq vet who's coping, and who's struggling to find work. Supplements food sources by hunting. Fern learned a lot of foraging and cooking from her mom, so also brings in food that way. There is definitely a lot on Fern's shoulders -- a lot of child care, a lot of food prep and cleaning, but I think this is a perspective that many older kids in impoverished families would identify with.
Frakking has arrived in their community, and the book centers on the raging debate over whether the new jobs created outweigh the loss of wild spaces. This is well developed and presented for kids to think about -- Fern's Somali best friend comes down on opposite sides from her, and they still find ways to preserve their friendship and communicate.

As a counterpoint to the environmental relationships that are in flux, the book has diverse family relationships that are also shifting -- Fern and family, grieving for their lost mother and younger brother, torn between the money her grandfather has on hand and the ugly custody battle he's bringing. Fern's isolated neighbor, Millner, who owns the woods that are in danger and is the cause of her mother's death (fell asleep at the wheel), and also the owner of a pack of dogs that play a heavy role in the story. Fern's 2 best friends -- Mark Richard and his 2 siblings, taken into care when their house burns down and Alkomso, recent Somali immigrant, who's father is away looking for work and is relieved when he can return to take a frakking job. All of the kids have younger siblings, which adds another facet to their friendships. There's a mean girl club at school that periodically reappears, and have divorce as a unifying theme. The social worker who is in the middle of all of this is pretty kindly portrayed -- Fern wants nothing to do with her, but her influence helps solve some problems, and she turns into an unexpected ally.

On top of all of this, there's a STEM science fair competition coming up, their beloved science teacher is put on leave for protesting the frakking, and the new, fast moving trucks on Fern's road nearly kill her brothers. Heroic dog sacrifice happens instead. Grrrr. No more dead dogs, guys, that's not cool. Realistic, but not cool. Anyway, it's a lot. It's a surprisingly cohesive, quick moving read considering how much is going on. The characters are sympathetically portrayed, and it's a convincing encapsulation of daily life in a rural area where everyone's just trying to get by.

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

The End of the Wild is an interesting story about Fern, an 11-year-old girl living with her 2 younger brothers and her stepfather, Toivo. In order to feed the family Toivo often hunts (poaches) game and Fern collects various nuts, mushrooms and roots from the forest near their home. Her mother and youngest brother have died in a car accident two years before we meet Fern for the first time. Toivo is a veteran who drinks too much and suffers with PTSD. While Fern's family is poor, her maternal grandfather is a powerful, wealthy man in the town where they live. He had disinherited Fern's mother when she married Toivo. Now that Toivo is struggling to support the family, Grandpa is trying to legally have the children removed from Toivo's care and placed in his home.

When a fracking company comes to town promising many high-paying jobs Fern learns that part of the process will be the destruction of the forest near their home that her family so depends on for survival. (Fracking is a process in which fractures in rocks below the earth's surface are opened and widened by injecting chemicals and liquids at high pressure: used especially to extract natural gas or oil.) When her best friend's father takes a job with the fracking company Fern is appalled and it causes her to question herself, her friends and family, and others in the community. Woven through these plot elements is a subplot dealing with forgiveness and healing. I particularly liked some of Fern's backstory where she talks about some of her unkind behavior in the past and the insight she has developed regarding compassion and friendship.

Fern is eminently likeable. She speaks with a sincere and genuine voice. Although the conclusion is satisfying as it relates to family growth and dynamics, it--realistically--does NOT wrap up all aspects of the fracking issue. The End of the Wild looks at both sides of the fracking controversy without arriving at a definitive conclusion--which is one of the reasons the story resonates so strongly. It is as much a story about how to discuss both sides of a strongly controversial issue as it is about the issue of fracking, itself. The End of the Wild is paced well, lending itself to both independent and read-aloud possibilities. It would make a terrific classroom read related to environmental issues like conservation, drilling, fracking, fossil fuels, etc.--especially at this time in our world when we desperately need to acknowledge and address significant environmental challenges going forward.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fern, whose mother and baby brother died in an auto accident, is 11 and lives in the woods with her stepfather and two brothers. Her stepfather is out of work and suffers from PTSD and depression, partially caused by serving in the war and partially caused by his wife’s death. So it’s up to Fern to care for her brothers and to figure out how to put food on the table. Thankfully, her mother taught her about foraging in the woods and left lots of recipes, which help Fern figure out how to feed her family. But Fern’s precious woods, the woods that her mother loved, the woods where she finds much needed comfort and the woods that supply her family’s food, is being threatened by a fracking company who has arrived in her small Michigan town. Fern finds herself on the opposite side of most of her neighbors, because they welcome the new job opportunities, rather than being concerned about the damage the company might do to their environment.

The descriptive language in this book vividly paints the characters and the setting throughout the book, which makes it easy to become invested in the story. I easily imagined the woods that Fern loved and her ramshackle house. I could feel the love Fern had for her little brothers, even when they were wild and refused to listen to her and the love her father had for all of the kids, even as he struggled to face the world.

I greatly admired Fern’s strength, her self reliance, her compassion and her resourcefulness. She accepted the fact that the family had very little money, and found ways to feed her family. She bravely searched for ways to save her forest, even though winning might mean that her neighbors and her father lose their badly needed new jobs. And even as she faced all of these hardships, she still found happiness with her family, her best friends and her teachers.

I would highly recommend this middle grade book be added to school and public libraries. It’s a great choice for those who are looking for a book about adventure, a strong girl, family or a book about the environment. End of the Wild fulfills all of these requirements!

[Laura Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for THE END OF WILD by #nicolehelget. Thanks to @theloudlibrarylady's 12 year old daughter for recommending this one to me!
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Fern does not have it easy. Her mother and baby brother died in a car accident two years ago and her stepdad (who never formally adopted her) is struggling with PTSD and is out of work. Her two little brothers run wild in the woods (and the house) and Fern and her stepdad struggle to put food on the table. Fern's knowledge of the woods helps; she's good at foraging for mushrooms and berries. Fern's wealthy grandfather has petitioned to take care of Fern and her brothers, but Fern wants to stay where she is. When trucks start driving through the woods in Fern's backyard, she is worried. It turns out a large company is fracking for natural gas nearby and her woods have been slated to become a wastewater pond. Some in the community support the fracking because of the promise of jobs to this impoverished, rural town, but Fern is afraid for the woods she loves so much. Can she convince those with power to listen to a young girl?
_*_*_*_*_*
I loved this book for many reasons, but voice is the primary one. Fern is compelling, convincing and strong; she is possibly the most self-sufficient 11 year old I have ever met in literature. The issue of fracking is a complex one and Helget presents both sides of the issue; environment versus jobs in an impoverished place such as this one is a tough decision. Fern's family and friends are struggling in many different ways and fracking may be the answer to many of their problems. It may also cause new ones. This is one I'll be booktalking a lot; I suspect students won't pick it up on their own, but the ones who give it a try will love it.
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[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fern has more responsibilities than most other eleven year old girls. She lives with her stepfather and younger brothers and works hard to keep her family together and functioning. She helps forage and feed her brothers and ensures they do their homework. Her woods are her home as well as the source of much of their food as they struggle to make ends meet. When frackers come to town, she is upset that her woods may disappear, but her family and friends don't seem to feel the same way. They are happy about the new jobs it is creating in their poverty-stricken area.

I like books that bring up the ethical and moral dilemmas that surround different environmental topics - especially books that present both sides of an issue. I also liked that there wasn't a fairy tale-type ending to the book.

I grew up in a rural town where some of the best paying jobs were in the coal industry, so I can relate to the characters. It is hard to knock something that provides people with a good-paying job in an otherwise bleak market. This book takes a hard look at life in poor, rural America (which is interesting since I've read a couple adult books with similar topics lately - Hillbilly Elegy and Glass Castle). The author's inclusion of Alkomso whose family is Muslim was portrayed in a realistic way as well.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I doubt students will appreciate it as much as I did. It has an old-fashioned feel to it complete with recipes of food items many of my students will probably have never heard of. A lot of my suburban and generally middle to upper class students won't be able to relate well to the characters and plot. I hope that if they aren't able to relate, they are able to use the book as a window into a world with issues that perhaps they haven't thought of before.

[maddi clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of the wild was a beautiful middle grade story about a modern family living in a run-down home that borders a pristine forest, where her family hunts and forages food. Fern, an eleven year old is responsible for her wild, reckless younger brothers and PTSD-stricken step-father. She is the leader, protecter and voice of her family to keep them together and not apart. When a fracking companys comes into the town, her forest could be ripped away. Fern is also trying to make sure that her grandfather - who has basically an empire of the town- wants to make a better situation for the family. Meaning pulling Fern away from her brothers and step-father. Fern lost her mother and baby sister two years ago, when a man fell alsleep behind the wheel from returning from a shift at a welding company, or her grandfather company.

The book is self was a wonderful, timley coming of age, with heavy topics such as death, poverty, PTSD,bullying, fear of being pull away from family and the controversial issue of fracking. I like that there is the constant fight for what is right and wrong. With the fracking company that is coming to the town, it will create jobs that many people of the town are in need to feed and care for families, yet the consquences of fracking to breaking the earth and putting toxics in the ground and destorying homes.

Overall, I give the book 3.5 stars. I liked it, did not hate it. There are some parts that I foudn stickly and could not feel anger bubbling under my skin. I think readers will take a lot from the book.

[Nikki Glassley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The End of the Wild for two very interconnected reasons:

1. It is a fantastic exploration of the environmental and societal impacts of fracking- the positives and the (in my opinion, mostly) negatives. It raises all the same questions adults have. How do you weigh the pros and cons of destroying the environment while bringing jobs to impoverished communities? How do you weigh fracking against coal mining or drilling for oil? It doesn't really have answers for most of the questions it asks, but the answers aren't the point. The answers are subjective. If you're well fed and live in a home heated with gas and not coal, your answer is different than someone who is hungry and frequently sick because they live in a home powered by coal. And that feeds directly into the second reason why I loved this book...

2. It is one of the most accurate and respectful depictions of rural poverty I have ever read. Three different characters are experiencing three different kinds of poverty and the kinds of familial problems that go along with those things. There aren't happy endings for every character, but neither is it needlessly dramatic. Some kids have harder lives than others. Sometimes they don't get "rescued" from those lives, but most of them don't really need to be. They find ways to make things good enough and they live and they're okay. Sometimes okay is just what you get.

[Maranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://thelibrarianstoolbox.wordpres...

The End of the Wild by Nicole Helget is a fictional, 4-6th grade middle school book on edible plants, fracking and family struggles.

Eleven-year-old Fern, lives with her stepfather and her two brothers in a small, rundown house, on the edge of a poor town. Near their home is a grove of woods, where she and her family hunts and forages for food. The woods are Fern’s life and she often goes their when things get tough–empty pantries, past due notices, letters from lawyers and child services.

When a fracking company moves into town, Fern finds out that they want to cut down her woods and put in a wastewater pond. Fern is devastated but also conflicted because the company will bring jobs to her neighborhood and could help keep her family together.

Fern is determined to save the woods but she also wants to keep her family together. What can she do when being tugged in two very different directions.

I decided to try this book for my STEM book club and I think it is going to be a good choice. The End of the Wild can help start a conversation on fracking, what it is and the controversies currently revolving around it.

I don’t know of anyone who will actually go out and actually make the recipes in this book, but they were need to see and added a neat creative element to the book. I liked that Fern was taught to provide for her family and you can definitely see how, even though she had to grow up quick, she is still just a kid.

A warning that I will be giving my book club kids, there is a dog who gets hurt in the book. This happens on page 150-158 in the hard cover version of the book, and does include somewhat of a graphic description. **SPOILER ALERT** although the dog does die, there is closer and new life springs from the death. **END SPOILER** Normally, I’d shy away from include books with hurt animals but this was handled well, so I think it will be OK.

Overall, this is going to make a great STEM book because not only can we discuss fracking and foraging, we can also talk about environmental sciences in general and other social issues like fostering, poverty and more. Now, I just have to find an “easy” STEM project to go along with it. This one gets 5 stars from me.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprisingly enjoyable book! I was expecting something a little bit preachy and sickly-sweet. But it was actually wonderfully nuanced, and beautifully written. Helget's language is beautifully suited to the wild forrest that is the back-drop of the book and to Fern's complex struggles within herself, her family, and her community. I read it very quickly and really enjoyed it!

Also loved the recipes that were so full of personality, as well as interesting foraged foodstuffs.

Recommended: I'd give it to about 4th-8th graders. Mature themes include divorce, grief, foster care, poverty, environmental damage. I'd give it to fans of Hoot, Saving Wonder, and Ghost Dog Secrets.

[Ashley Keeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aside the... awkward dialogue throughout... I don’t feel this book addressed the neglectful situation Fern and her siblings found themselves in. Fern was responsible for practically the entire house, almost thanklessly. I was worried this was going to end with the problem being miraculously fixed, and of course, it was, but the people in the book treated it like a lesson. She could maintain herself on her own...because trauma is worth that. In reality, those kids would have been with Snooty Granddad in a HEARTBEAT. Regardless of how much he sucks, let’s keep in mind that until the end of the book, Fern had never seen her parents walk in the house with a fair amount of groceries before. They also acted like him getting this job erased all their overdue bills... like they are still a very impending issue. I spent the whole book trying to figure out where this was set, because everything felt so abnormal. Her teacher knew she got her food from the woods and didn’t call anybody? Living off the land is one thing... I have a lot of mixed feelings. May need to update this later.

And of course we had to kill the dog because why the frack not?

[Amy-Jo Conant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 2020 MCBA book

Here are my notes while I read:

I went in knowing very little.

A bit of a slow start but you start to get invested in the characters. Give this book the time it deserves and stick with it. I think in the end you will be pleased.

A fairly fast read.

Really loved the speech by her dad towards the end.

The spitfire social worker. Love her!!!!

In the end a really sweet story.

Smaller audience due to the low level of action.

I think this has potential as a great book club read. It’s a realistic fiction book with strong character development and has many social and ethical themes that students can relate to at various levels. Lots to dig into discussion wise.

I love the environmental angle and think there is definitely a place for this in classroom libraries as well as the school library. It’s done well and isn’t over bearing in any way.

I think the author does an amazing job leading readers to the point where they get to decide their feelings about the environmental issue along with the characters.