The Wild Girl
PreSchool-Grade 1–A barefoot girl, dressed in an animal skin, lives in the wilderness with only her small brown dog for companionship. They share their food–fish, nuts, berries, and even insects–as well as their cave. In summer, they sleep outdoors and in winter, they huddle together in the warmth of their cavern. Searching for firewood one snowy day, the girl notices large footprints leading up to and away from the cave as if an animal were scouting the area for shelter. That night, a huge brown bear attempts to enter the den. With shouts, barks, and snowballs, the girl and her dog send the beast scurrying. It's only when a tiny bear appears from the shadows of the cave that the girl realizes that she has separated a mother from her cub. So, she and her two furry companions search for the mother bear and eventually find her sitting at the mouth of the cave, awaiting their return. They all find refuge and warmth as the girl opens her heart and her home to the animals. The isolation of the child and her pet is palpable in the wide expanse of the jagged purple, cream, and brown mountain range in which they live. This is an affecting story of friendship and survival. Read it along with James Mayhew'sBoy(Scholastic, 2004) for another tale about a cave child.–Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.