Customer Reviews

The Wild Girls

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Wild Girls is a book for writers. It's a book for girls who don't always follow the rules and for girls who play with spotted newts. As a girl who enjoys writing, newts, and occasional rule-breaking, I fell in love immediately.

Pat Murphy tells the story of two girls -- the rule-following Joan (aka Newt), who just moved to California from Connecticut and has always written the kinds of stories she thought her teacher would like, and Sarah (aka Fox), who hangs out throwing rocks in the woods near the run-down house where she lives with her dad, a motorcycle-writer-guy who doesn't fit the image of any dad Joan has ever known. Fox and Newt form the kind of bond that can only be forged in secret clearings and treehouses, and together, they weather the storms of family trauma and trying (or not) to fit in among their peers. More than anything, though, they learn about writing and about the power of story to help us see truth -- especially when truth is different from the story that the grownups are dishing out.

Joan and Sarah call themselves the Wild Girls -- thus the title -- and through this new sense of self, they're able to confront questions that always lurked in the shadows before. This book reminds me of Clarissa Pinkola Estes' Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. Women Who Run With the Wolves is non-fiction aimed at adult readers, but the spirit of the two books feels the same.

There are so many fantastic moments in The Wild Girls. My copy is riddled with Post-It notes marking my favorite passages. One of them comes when Azalea, a colorful character Joan meets during a writing class on the Berkeley campus, offers her a chance to try walking on stilts.


I hesitated, thinking about it. "I don't know. I'd probably fall."

Azalea frowned fiercely, shaking her head. "That is the wrong attitude. That's a Failure of the Imagination." When she said that, I heard it in capital letters. By her tone, I knew that a Failure of the Imagination was a terrible and contemptible thing. "All it takes to walk on stilts is imagination. If you believe that you can walk on stilts, then you can." She looked at me. "What do you think?"

What do I think? I think I after reading this book, I could walk on stilts...or jump across a stream...or...or....just about anything. It's empowering in that way, and that makes it a perfect choice for kids, especially girls who love to read and write.

Joan is not a Wild Girl when she moves from Connecticut to California. She's a very normal sort of 1970s girl who generally does what is expected her. Then, wandering in the lawns and woods behind her new home, she meets Fox, who is a very Wild Girl. Fascinated by Fox and her biker-looking father, Joan names herself Newt, and together, in the woods, she and Fox become the Wild Girls. One of the Wild Girls' favorite activities is making up stories, and when one rather unconventional story (and a very unusual public reading) gets them accepted into a writing workshop in Berkley, the girls' fiction will take them places inside themselves, each other, and ever their families.

The plot of Wild Girls may not sound very exciting, now that I look at it, but in this case the greatness is in the details. The relationship of Fox and Newt in the woods, versus in school. The way the Wild Girls persona allows them to create a mask -- and explore more ideas than they normally might. The meticulously documented journey of self-discovery. Watching Newt's mother move from a cardboard mom-figure to a real person in her daughter's eyes. The exploration of female relationships... Oh, I could go on! It was just so satisfying!

"A sweet, compelling, coming-of-age story" sounds like a boring way to sum it up, but I'll have to leave it there. I want you to discover how Wild Girls ripens all by yourself! Great for girl readers (this is really not a boy's book) in that difficult cusp now known as "tweendom" and a GREAT choice for the budding writer in your life.

I love this book.

I don't want to give any spoilers about the content, and I think there's enough information about the book at Pat Murphy's site and here on Amazon for readers to learn about that. The book itself is just really good.

Plus, it makes me want to
1. write more, and
2. also get to know my mom better via the questions that Joan and Fox learn to ask in the book (unfortunately this is not possible for me, except via #1).

Pat has written that she wrote the book for the twelve-year-old that she once was, and I feel like she wrote it for the twelve-year-old that I was also. And for the 33-year-old that I am now (and all the ages in between).
I bought an extra copy for my 13-year-old niece.
The woman working at the bookstore where I bought the book (Sorry Amazon, I went for a local bookstore on this one) told me that she has been waiting for this book "for years!"

The Wild Girls is a great book for girls who sometimes feel different and out of place. the girls in this book discover that many people their age are going through the same feelings. With the help of a writing teacher who inspires them and builds their confidence, they discover their self confidence, and soar to new heights of achievement.

i just say i loved this book, which i didnt really expect, because i'm typically not a fan of "coming of age" novels. after reading the mostly stinky Young Adult books that won awards, or were given star reviews by School Library Journal, i have to wonder why this little gem was ignored.

Its characters are very relistic, and it instills a love, or at least an interst in writting in its readers. i loved the writing assignments that they girls were given in their class. i also loved how during the course of the book, both girls learned to see the world for what it is; to see their parents as people and not just parents.

The Wild Girls is a great book for both teenage girls and teenagers who write. Fox/Sarah and Newt/Joan are new friends whose imagination and intelligence take them far when they enter a writing contest. Together they win the opportunity to take a special summer writing class with the writing teacher every teenaged writer wishes for-Verla Volante. Writing becomes a vehicle of self-discovery as Fox and Newt, aka as the wild girls, learn that real people are neither just heroes or just villians, but some of both.

Set in 1972, this book will open young people's eyes to a childhood that no longer exists-when children played outdoors in fields, streams, orchards, and trees without cell phones, online social networks, and computer game systems. They will be surprised to read a scene where Newt can't call her new friend Fox because she doesn't remember her last name and didn't write down her phone number!

I gave this book to my 11 year old daughter because there was an AR test for it, and it seemed like a "nice" story with a little mischief. My daughter truly enjoyed it, and she finds reading a chore. I was so happy to find a story about girls this age that wasn't all focused on one clique of popular girls being mean to another group. An excellent story about friendship, family, and diversity, and finding talents. Hooray for Pat Murphy! Thank you.

I loved this book. It was heartwarming to read about these girls, the issues they faced and how they stayed true to themselves. I also liked how the way Joan saw her mother changed over the course of the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read a good, solid book about good kids. I must warn you- you might shed a couple of tears along the way! Parts of the book were kind of emotional!

I borrowed the audiobook from our local library for a road trip. After listening intently to the CDs, both my 12- and 14-year-old daughters begged me for a paper version. They love it.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm working on a novel for middle grade readers and reading a lot of teen books. This one is the best. It captures the subtleties of the relationships, is a captivating story, and I think has a positive message for kids struggling with various issues like fitting in with the crowd, divorce, honesty, etc.