Overview

Victimized in foster care and then by his adoptive mother's boyfriend, Seth decides to head out on his own. Brooke thinks she might be pregnant and, instead of dealing with her controlling mother, she runs. They meet in a wilderness park, where basic survival is a challenge. As they work together to find food, water, and shelter, they find the strength to take control of their own lives. Distributed in the U.S by Lerner Publishing Group.

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9781459409880

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Two teens looking to get away from it all find exactly what they need in the Canadian wilderness. Fifteen-year-old, brown-skinned Seth longs for family. Raised in foster homes, he was finally adopted only to find that he will never measure up to his adoptive mother's expectations. When her new, cruel, and vulgar boyfriend begins hanging around, Seth takes to the woods. Without food, money, or equipment, it is doubtful he will make it far. Then he meets 18-year-old, white Brooke, who is running from her own problems. A domineering mother and an overachieving sister are almost enough to send her packing, and when she discovers she might be pregnant, she longs to get away. Seth and Brooke forge an unlikely friendship. They find that dehydration and hypothermia are a lot easier to treat than their broken hearts. Alternating chapters tell each of their stories. While Seth's story is one of genuine abuse, Brooke's is more about poor choices bringing difficult consequences. However, the differences are the strength of this brief novel. Pain is real to the one suffering, yet healing is available to those willing to be vulnerable to others. Lundgren's sure hand guides Seth and Brooke toward hope and healing and avoids the trap of sentimentality. A breath of fresh air lifts these familiar themes. --Kirkus Reviews -- (8/1/2016 12:00:00 AM) Two troubled teens meet by chance in a Vancouver wilderness park where they have gone to escape seemingly insurmountable personal problems. Eighteen-year-old Brooke fears that she is pregnant and will not go to university as her parents wish. A laid-back student but confident camper, she packs for a short trip to clear her head and think about the future. Nearly 16, Seth bolts from his house after his adoptive mother's abusive boyfriend chides him about trying to locate his birth mother. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he enters the park with no forethought and is soon drinking untreated water and willing to steal food. The two come together out of necessity after Brooke has a bear encounter, gets stuck in the mud, and is suffering from cramps. Seth tends to her for a share of the food and thinks she looks like how he imagined his birth mother would look. The relentless chill of wet clothing, the metallic taste of iodine-treated water, and diarrhea and other personal hygiene issues are among the realistic and grittysurvival details. Chapters alternate between characters, as the omniscient narration strives to provide the thoughts and actions of both, but neither character is fully developed. The isolated setting forces them to deal with their problems, though resolutions come too easily, in lightbulb revelations and tidy endings. VERDICT The low reading level will appeal to struggling teens who want quick reads about characters their own age dealing with problems. --School Library Journal -- (10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM)

Two troubled teens meet by chance in a Vancouver wilderness park where they have gone to escape seemingly insurmountable personal problems. Eighteen-year-old Brooke fears that she is pregnant and will not go to university as her parents wish. A laid-back student but confident camper, she packs for a short trip to clear her head and think about the future. Nearly 16, Seth bolts from his house after his adoptive mother's abusive boyfriend chides him about trying to locate his birth mother. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he enters the park with no forethought and is soon drinking untreated water and willing to steal food. The two come together out of necessity after Brooke has a bear encounter, gets stuck in the mud, and is suffering from cramps. Seth tends to her for a share of the food and thinks she looks like how he imagined his birth mother would look. The relentless chill of wet clothing, the metallic taste of iodine-treated water, and diarrhea and other personal hygiene issues are among the realistic and gritty survival details. Chapters alternate between characters, as the omniscient narration strives to provide the thoughts and actions of both, but neither character is fully developed. The isolated setting forces them to deal with their problems, though resolutions come too easily, in lightbulb revelations and tidy endings. VERDICT The low reading level will appeal to struggling teens who want quick reads about characters their own age dealing with problems.--School Library Journal -- Journal Two teens looking to get away from it all find exactly what they need in the Canadian wilderness. Fifteen-year-old, brown-skinned Seth longs for family. Raised in foster homes, he was finally adopted only to find that he will never measure up to his adoptive mother's expectations. When her new, cruel, and vulgar boyfriend begins hanging around, Seth takes to the woods. Without food, money, or equipment, it is doubtful he will make it far. Then he meets 18-year-old, white Brooke, who is running from her own problems. A domineering mother and an overachieving sister are almost enough to send her packing, and when she discovers she might be pregnant, she longs to get away. Seth and Brooke forge an unlikely friendship. They find that dehydration and hypothermia are a lot easier to treat than their broken hearts. Alternating chapters tell each of their stories. While Seth's story is one of genuine abuse, Brooke's is more about poor choices bringing difficult consequences. However, the differences are the strength of this brief novel. Pain is real to the one suffering, yet healing is available to those willing to be vulnerable to others. Lundgren's sure hand guides Seth and Brooke toward hope and healing and avoids the trap of sentimentality. A breath of fresh air lifts these familiar themes.--Kirkus Reviews -- Journal

Two teens looking to get away from it all find exactly what they need in the Canadian wilderness. Fifteen-year-old, brown-skinned Seth longs for family. Raised in foster homes, he was finally adopted only to find that he will never measure up to his adoptive mother's expectations. When her new, cruel, and vulgar boyfriend begins hanging around, Seth takes to the woods. Without food, money, or equipment, it is doubtful he will make it far. Then he meets 18-year-old, white Brooke, who is running from her own problems. A domineering mother and an overachieving sister are almost enough to send her packing, and when she discovers she might be pregnant, she longs to get away. Seth and Brooke forge an unlikely friendship. They find that dehydration and hypothermia are a lot easier to treat than their broken hearts. Alternating chapters tell each of their stories. While Seth's story is one of genuine abuse, Brooke's is more about poor choices bringing difficult consequences. However, the differences are the strength of this brief novel. Pain is real to the one suffering, yet healing is available to those willing to be vulnerable to others. Lundgren's sure hand guides Seth and Brooke toward hope and healing and avoids the trap of sentimentality. A breath of fresh air lifts these familiar themes.--Kirkus Reviews -- Journal (8/1/2016 12:00:00 AM) Two troubled teens meet by chance in a Vancouver wilderness park where they have gone to escape seemingly insurmountable personal problems. Eighteen-year-old Brooke fears that she is pregnant and will not go to university as her parents wish. A laid-back student but confident camper, she packs for a short trip to clear her head and think about the future. Nearly 16, Seth bolts from his house after his adoptive mother's abusive boyfriend chides him about trying to locate his birth mother. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he enters the park with no forethought and is soon drinking untreated water and willing to steal food. The two come together out of necessity after Brooke has a bear encounter, gets stuck in the mud, and is suffering from cramps. Seth tends to her for a share of the food and thinks she looks like how he imagined his birth mother would look. The relentless chill of wet clothing, the metallic taste of iodine-treated water, and diarrhea and other personal hygiene issues are among the realistic and grittysurvival details. Chapters alternate between characters, as the omniscient narration strives to provide the thoughts and actions of both, but neither character is fully developed. The isolated setting forces them to deal with their problems, though resolutions come too easily, in lightbulb revelations and tidy endings. VERDICT The low reading level will appeal to struggling teens who want quick reads about characters their own age dealing with problems.--School Library Journal -- Journal (10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM)

Author Information

JODI LUNDGREN's love of backpacking has taken her to the Cape Scott and Juan de Fuca trails on Vancouver Island and to the Camino del Norte in Spain. She currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia, where she teaches English and Creative Writing at Camosun College. Gone Wild follows on the success of her last teen novel, Blow, also in the Lorimer SideStreets series.

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