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The Wild Book

by Margarita Engle

Words taking root

Regular price $11.53 USD
Regular price $19.22 USD Sale price $11.53 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

Words taking root

Set in Cuba and told in verse, the story centers on Fefa, a girl with dyslexia who struggles to make sense of letters. Her mother gives her a blank book to use as a place for words, and the pages become a record of Fefa’s growing confidence with reading and writing. The family’s safety also enters the story, linking her work with words to a wider challenge at home. The source describes the book as a portrait of the author’s grandmother as a young girl, bringing together verse, family, and the experience of learning with dyslexia.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Children ages 9–12 interested in stories about dyslexia and learning to read or write.
  • Readers who enjoy fiction presented in verse.
  • Readers interested in family stories set in Cuba.

Themes

Dyslexia and literacyCreative expressionFamilyCuba

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"The idea of a wild book on which to let words sprout is one that should speak to those with reading difficulties and to aspiring poets as well." --School Library Journal

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them?

But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says.

Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

This glowing portrait in verse of Margarita Engle's Cuban grandmother as a young girl struggling with dyslexia is not to be missed.

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