Review Detail

GOING WILD is the first book in a middle grades science fiction trilogy by bestselling author Lisa McMann. In the book, Charlie Wilde is not happy at all when her mom accepts a new job in Arizona. Leaving her friends and Chicago, the city she loves, behind is difficult enough. Doing it in the middle of the school year makes the transition even harder.

Fortunately for Charlie, her new school has a sixth grade girls’ soccer team, and try-outs take place just as she’s starting at the school. As a bonus, someone has left Charlie a cool new bracelet that gives her confidence a boost when she wears it.

GOING WILD begins in darkness—the opening pages are even black with white lettering. As the story starts there is a theft, a chase, and a kidnapping … and then the reader is introduced to Charlie and her moving woes. Charlie is a classic pre-teen: she’s sometimes fun, sometimes sullen, occasionally angry, and always fully immersed in her own thoughts and troubles. McCann does a great job channeling the pre-teen brain and every middle school kid’s wish to be exceptional in some way. Her action sequences are also well written, and Charlie and her friends Maria and Mac are realistic despite the unreal things happening to and around them.

There’s a definite comic book vibe to GOING WILD, and the cliffhanger of an ending adds to that. McMann has set the stage for an exciting book two, and I’ll be tuning in to see where it’s going to take us.

My thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review.