Customer Reviews

Growing Wings

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I admit, I was drawn by my strange interest in winged people in general (fairies, angels, vampires, or just people with wings). I was surprised to find the subject dealt with so practically and realistically. Winter is an incredibly gifted writer, whose sentences are striking, spare, and powerful. However, some of the other reviewers are right; not a whole lot happens in the book and the ending is inconclusive and abrupt. Because of this, the book may appeal more to adults than to children, but it is not one to be overlooked.

My mom ordered this book for me because she met Laurel Winter at the Celtic Women's Conference last year and had been waiting for the book to be published. It finally arrived and once I started it, I couldn't put it down! It was a really different book. I have never read a book like that before. Ms. Winter has a lot of imagination to come up with all that stuff. I hope she writes more books soon! I also hope she comes back to the Celtic Women's Conference again this year so I can come and meet her and get my book autographed! It was awesome!!!

Although it is currently being marketed as a children's or young adult book, Growing Wings shouldn't be limited by this classification. Anyone who has ever felt other, outcast, or even just a little different, will relate to Linnet and her struggles once she begins to grow wings.

Laurel Winter has drawn very believable characters with genuine strengths, weaknesses, and emotions. The circumstances are unusual, wondrous, and a bit frightening in their uncertainty.

If you have ever dreamed of the fantastic, you will enjoy this story.

Both adults and young adults should enjoy this book. It is about a young girl, Linnet, who actually starts to grow wings. The book follows her as she tries to hide them from the world and eventually comes to terms with her wingedness. Along the way she meets other winged folk who help her. One great aspect is that since this is sci-fi and not fantasy, she can't really fly (at least not at first). For humans to fly, the wings would have to be huge, which these are not. Part of the story is about her attempts to fly and her adventures in avoiding the press. In the end the story is about how society treats those who are different from the norm and whether those people should be hidden away or be able to live openly as winged people. It is very suspense-filled and the chapter-ending cliffhangers will keep you turning the pages. I think young-adults especially will love it.

This is a wonderful book. It's about an ordinary girl who has something amazing and magical happen to her, and yet, it's so realistic! It is also alternatively funny and sad, as Linnet and her friends find out how limited their life will be because of their wings,but also that those very wings may,if they try hard, allow them to fly.
I loved this book: it's exciting and the ending isn't too sad, my most important qualifications for novels!

Have you ever experienced something...out of the ordinary? In the novel Growing Wings, by Laurel Winter, one of the protagonists, Linnet, discovers something a bit odd about herself at age eleven.
Her mother always was a bit mysterious when it came to family matters. Linnet finally has the guts to ask her mother the question lurking in her mind: What are those things coming out of my back?! Her mother answers, "Wings-you're growing wings" (p. 2). With that said, Sarah and Linnet's hidden secrets were revealed. Sarah's mother bonded and amputated her wings after being a `cut-wing' herself! Knowing what it felt like, Sarah refuses to let the same happen to her daughter. Linnet survives the rest of her school year hiding her `secret' behind her long hair and big shirts. As soon as school is out, her mother and she leave to Wyoming, where Sarah's past lurks. On the trip, it seems that Sarah has abandoned Linnet at a hotel! On her own, she finds her grandmother and is shortly escorted to a sanctuary where she finds others like herself.
Though that would sound like a nice ending, it is not quite! There she faces many conflicts: internal and external. She finds herself fighting against and then being best friends with one of the girls, Andy. Even with these `moood swings,' together they conquer the dangers and journeys that come their way. They escape reporters looking for some winged people, and have discovered a way to fly!
I chose this book because it was filled with surprises and unique situations. The book is often intellectual and is blessed with beautiful quotes at the beginning of each chapter.
`"Hope" is the thing with feathers-
That perches in the soul-
-Emily Dickinson' (p. 47)
It is a short and easy read. You have nothing to lose!
If you are in for a terrific fantasy and adventure book, here is your chance! Get to a book store or library now!

Laurel Winter uses a young girl who suddenly grows wings as a metaphor for finding one's individuality. This makes the tale appealing even for those who aren't quite as fascinated by how she and other children are portrayed as having wings, which is what made me pick up this book.

Winter uses simple and straightforward writing to create a book that doesn't patronize children -- a trap that many such writers fall into, though few intend -- and which will stretch their minds. The chapter headings alone are half of such spice in the book. Adults will remember the better parts of their pre-adolescence, when they, too, were starting to grow their mental wings.

I'd have preferred to give this 4.5 stars, with the only deduction being for its being much too short, once Winter has outlined this intriguing and diverse flock of winged characters. (As well as older women who have some profound changes of heart.) I look forward to a sequel, where the young protagonist fully enters adolescence.

For a book about taking flight, this is a surprisingly down-to-earth story. But it's the mundane details and the realism that make the fantastic elements of this story so enchanting. Linnet's mother has always been a bit odd with family rituals and family lies (like Linnet's "heart murmur") that Linnet suspects don't go on in other households. On her 11th birthday, Linnet discovers the truth behind the secrets: She starts growing wings. Enormous soft auburn-colored wings sprout from her shoulder blades and Linnet discovers that growing wings may be a family tradition: MAY be, because Linnet's grandmother horribly mutilated her own daughter, Linnet's mother, by hacking her wings off with a knife. Linnet's mom, understandably, ran away from home and hasn't spoken a word to Linnet's grandmother since. As it gets harder and harder to hide Linnet's growing wings and Linnet presses her mother for the truth, they travel back to the mountains her mother came from. There Linnet discovers some surprising things about winged people, secrets and courage. This is a fabulous story, sensitively told with characters so real you can't believe that somewhere, somewhen, there aren't people who can fly

This is a wonderful book about a young girl who discovers that she is growing wings. She realizes that she is different and seeks others like her. This book can help children to have compassion for others that are different. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Linnet is eleven and has started growing wings. Her mother is not surprised. In fact her mother started growing her own before they were cut off by Linnet's grandmother. As the wings manifest, Linnet becomes very curious about what is happening to her. She convinces her mother that they should go and see her grandmother to find out what she knows. But things do not go as planned. Linnet's mother has a hard time with the idea of seeing the woman who cut off her wings. The two get separated and Linnet must continue on her own.

Linnet's quest takes her to a small group of other winged individuals. It is not just her family. She then really begins to obsess with the idea of actually flying with her wings. Her small size might allow it. Linnet forms a tense friendship with another young girl who is even more obsessed with flying than she is. But it is when their sanctuary might have been discovered by the press that things really start moving and truths get revealed.

In the end it feels like there should be more books about these characters. Not because the story is unfinished but because there is so much more than can be done. I would love to see more adventures. The writing is good for a first novel and the characters are realized. The plotting takes off right at the start as Linnet already has her wings at that point. Having just read the latest James Patterson tale of winged children, this was very fresh, especially the details about the minor problems with having wings. A very good book. Check it out.