Description

Twelve-year-old Maggie's stutter causes her much heartache and only her menagerie of pets, whom she can speak with fluidly, provide her comfort, but when she finds Rumpus, an abandoned snow leopard in a forest in Cornwall, their chance encounter will change their lives forever.

Publisher Marketing:
When the fates of a snow leopard, a child, and an ancient forest collide, the unimaginable can happen. Perfect for fans of Pax and The One and Only Ivan.

* Harrington packs her memorably atmospheric debut with compelling issues, but her sharply felt portrayals of two vulnerable youngsters of different species bonding as they find their ways in hostile worlds will make the deepest impression. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Both character arcs sparkle with life thanks to Harrington's poignant, immersive prose...nuanced and empowering." -- Publisher's Weekly, starred review

"Reads like a classic. I loved it!" -- Pam Muñoz Ryan, author of the bestsellers Esperanza Rising and the Newbery Honor book Echo

Wildoak makes us believe the world may well be as mysterious and as lovely and as possible as we had hoped. -- Gary D. Schmidt, author of Just Like That and the Newbery Honor book The Wednesday Wars

Maggie Stephens's stutter makes school especially hard. She will do almost anything to avoid speaking in class or calling attention to herself. So when her unsympathetic father threatens to send her away for so-called "treatment," she reluctantly agrees to her mother's intervention plan: a few weeks in the fresh air of Wildoak Forest, visiting a grandfather she hardly knows. It is there, in an extraordinary twist of fate, that she encounters an abandoned snow leopard cub, an exotic gift to a wealthy Londoner that proved too wild to domesticate. But once the cub's presence is discovered by others, danger follows, and Maggie soon realizes that time is running out, not only for the leopard, but for herself and the forest as well.

​Told in alternating voices, Wildoak shimmers with beauty, compassion, and unforgettable storytelling as it explores the delicate interconnectedness of the human, animal, and natural worlds.