From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] Purchased as part of a donation in memory of Virginia Dockweiler, Wings in the Wild is a beautiful, heart-wrenching lyric novel about two teens from Cuba.

Longtime library supporter, Ginny, loved music and working with students. This young adult novel by bestselling, award winning author Margarita Engle, uses alternating points of view to share how two teens help each other through hard times using art and music.

Both displaced due to natural disasters, Dariel and Soleida, find solace in one another and through their art. Soleida's parents have been arrested under Cuba's art ban for creating sculptures of chained birds. Soleida becomes an emblem of freedom and creativity as she works to have her parents released. Dariel finds refuge in his culture through ancestral songs played on the guitar his grandfather made from the trees in their hometown. His sweet songs attract animals of all kinds while he plays. He hopes to change the world by making the environment safer for the many birds and animals who depend on it.

Through their friendship and art, both teens find purpose and ways to move forward.

~ Jess