The Wild Book

by Margarita Engle

Overview

"The idea of a wild book on which to let words sprout is one that should speak to those with reading difficulties and to aspiring poets as well." —School Library Journal

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them?

But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says.

Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

This glowing portrait in verse of Margarita Engle's Cuban grandmother as a young girl struggling with dyslexia is not to be missed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544022751
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,063,503
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1050L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet and novelist whose work has been published in many countries. Her many acclaimed books include Silver People, The Lightning Dreamer, The Wild Book, and The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor Book. She is a several-time winner of the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards as well as other prestigious honors. She lives with her husband in Northern California. For more information, visit margaritaengle.com.

Read an Excerpt

Word-Blindness

Word-blindness.
The doctor hisses it
like a curse.
Word-blindness,
he repeats—some children
can see everything
except words.
They are only blind
on paper.
Fefa will never be able
to read, or write,
or be happy
in school.

Word-blindness.
It sounds like an evil wizard’s
prophecy, dangerous
and dreadful,
but Mamá does not listen
to the serpent voice
of the hissing doctor.
She climbs in the wagon,
clucks to the horse,
and carries us home
to our beautiful green farm,
where she tells me to follow
the good example of Santa Mónica,
patron saint of patience.

Word-blindness,
Mamá murmurs
with a suffering sigh—who
ever heard of such an impossible
burden?

She refuses to accept
the hissing doctor’s verdict.
Seeds of learning grow slowly,
she assures me.
Then she lights a tall,
slender candle,
and gives me
a book.

I grow anxious.
I pretend that my eyes hurt.
I pretend that my head hurts,
and pretty soon
it is true.

I know that the words
want to trick me.
The letters will jumble
and spill off the page,
leaping and hopping,
jumping far away,
like slimy
bullfrogs.

Think of this little book
as a garden,
Mamá suggests.
She says it so calmly
that I promise I will try.

Throw wildflower seeds
all over each page, she advises.
Let the words sprout
like seedlings,
then relax and watch
as your wild diary
grows.

I open the book.
Word-blindness.
The pages are white!
Is this really
a blank diary,
or just an ordinary
schoolbook
filled with frog-slippery
tricky letters
that know how to leap
and escape?

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

• "A beautiful tale of perseverance."—Kirkus, starred review

"Readers will be enchanted."—VOYA

"[A] lyrical glimpse of early twentieth-century Cuba."—Booklist "Engle’s writing is customarily lovely."—Publishers Weekly "The idea of a wild book on which to let her words sprout is one that should speak to those with reading difficulties and to aspiring poets as well."—School Library Journal "[A] remarkable, intimate depiction of Fefa's struggle with dyslexia; Engle is masterful at using words to evoke this difficulty, and even those readers unfamiliar with the condition will understand its meaning through her rich use of imagery and detail."—Bulletin

Editorial Reviews

A Kirkus Best Children's Book of 2012 A Bank Street College of Education Best Book   * "A beautiful tale of perseverance."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review   "Readers will be enchanted."—VOYA   "[A] lyrical glimpse of early twentieth-century Cuba."—Booklist   "Engle’s writing is customarily lovely."—Publishers Weekly   "[A] remarkable, intimate depiction of Fefa's struggle with dyslexia; Engle is masterful at using words to evoke this difficulty, and even those readers unfamiliar with the condition will understand its meaning through her rich use of imagery and detail."—Bulletin   "The idea of a wild book on which to let her words sprout is one that should speak to those with reading difficulties and to aspiring poets as well."—School Library Journal —

From the Publisher

Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, Engle’s (Hurricane Dancers) novel-in-verse is told in the voice of Josefa, an 11-year-old living in the Cuban countryside in the early 20th century, following the war for independence from Spain and U.S. occupation of the island. It’s a turbulent time, with roaming bandits kidnapping children for ransom, but Fefa (as she’s called) is preoccupied with her “word blindness,” what is now called dyslexia. To help Fefa overcome her struggle to read and write, her poetry-loving mother gives her the wild book of the title, a blank book in which Fefa can practice “taming” the letters and words that seem to wriggle away as she tries to read them. “Throw wildflower seeds/ all over each page,” her mother suggests. “Let the words sprout/ like seedlings,/ then relax and watch/ as your wild diary/ grows.” Fefa persists until her disability is under control, but the denouement, in which a poem written by an unwelcome suitor saves Fefa’s family from harm, feels contrived. Engle’s writing is customarily lovely, but the plot is too thin to leave much of an impression. Ages 10–14. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A young girl tackles a learning disability and the uncertainty of daily life in early-20th-century Cuba. Ten years old at the tale's opening, Josefa "Fefa" de la Caridad Uría Peña lives with her parents and 10 siblings on their farm, Goatzacoalco. Diagnosed with "word blindness" (a misnomer for dyslexia), Fefa struggles at school and in a home rich with words, including the writings of Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío. Discounting a doctor's opinion that "Fefa will never be able / to read, or write, / or be happy / in school," her mother gives her a blank diary: "Let the words sprout / like seedlings, / then relax and watch / as your wild diary / grows." "Let the words sprout / like seedlings, / then relax and watch / as your wild diary / grows." Basing her tale on the life of her maternal grandmother, Engle captures the frustrations, setbacks and triumphs of Fefa's language development in this often lyrical free-verse novel. Her reading difficulties are heightened when bandits begin roving the countryside, kidnapping local children for ransom: "All I can think of / is learning how / to read / terrifying / ransom notes." The author gives readers a portrait of a tumultuous period in Cuban history and skillfully integrates island flora, fauna and mythology into Fefa's first-person tale. This canvas heightens Fefa's determination to rise above the expectations of her siblings, peers and society. A beautiful tale of perseverance. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews