November 15, 2022
In their third interstate journey, the Wilder brothers travel west to save their dog. Following The Journey Home (2016), 14-year-old Jake and 12-year-old Taylor settle into a peaceful existence in Wyoming with their happily reunited parents, their friend Kim, and their loyal Jack Russell terrier, Cody. But when they encounter the school bully, who attacks the brothers and attempts to kick Cody, Cody nips him. Worse, the bully's father (who's on the town council) demands Cody be destroyed. The brothers don't trust animal control to keep Cody safe from the bullying family, so they abscond with their dog, fleeing injustice. Their goal is reaching their off-the-grid grandmother in northern California. They know her only through letters; their father's concern over their grandmother's living alone in the wilderness resulted in a disagreement and then a multiyear estrangement (based on the seemingly paranoid content of some of the letters, Jake and Taylor's parents feel their worries are justified). The journey is fast-paced, with sympathetic strangers (mostly fellow kids or teens) assisting (especially with transportation). The boys' nature know-how helps them navigate encounters with wild animals; the book also highlights wildfires and the consequences of deforestation. The biggest conflict comes as the brothers learn the truth about their grandmother's troubles and find a way to help her, though the resolutions to both stories--the grandmother's and Cody's--come easily and anticlimactically. The Wilders are cued White, Kim is Shoshone, and there is diversity in background characters. The strength's in the journey--survival skills and environmentalism--not the destination. (Fiction. 9-14)
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January 20, 2023
Gr 4 Up-The third entry in Wallace's "Wilder Boys" series further expands upon the survivalist-adjacent adventures of brothers Jake and Taylor Wilder as they seek to protect their beloved terrier, Cody, and connect with their elusive, eccentric grandmother in the California woodlands. In a plot turn reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, Cody bites a local bully, and Jake and Taylor abscond with the canine from their Wyoming home to save him from euthanization. They hitchhike out of state with road-tripping teenagers and are quickly deposited deep in the wilderness with a stack of letters as clues to their grandmother's well-hidden whereabouts. Though the book begins with a substantial chunk of clunky exposition summarizing the previous books, the wilder side of the Wilder journey herein is an implausible but delightful read. The boys set traps, start a fire, kill and cook a rabbit, and avoid a massive bear in the middle of the night, to name a few of their adventures. Finally, they face their grandmother's rival, developers planning to destroy the land she fiercely defends, and the story culminates in a booby-trap filled denouement. Episodic and jaunty, this book is intense without pathos or obsessive detail, sparking excitement in even the most reluctant reader. The act of running away is taken lightly, which might concern some readers and parents. The Wilder family is coded as white, while minor characters of other racial backgrounds, especially their Native American friend Kim, help them in meaningful ways during their journey. VERDICT A fun, fast-paced, crisp caper for wilderness lovers and curious homebodies alike.-Emilia Packard
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