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Overview
A shy girl teaches a wild boy the ways of modern living in Wild Child: Forest's First Home, the first book in this sweet and funny chapter book series!
On a family camping trip, Olive Regle encounters Forest, a young boy who has grown up in the wild. Olive’s father agrees to let Forest move in under the condition that Olive teach Forest everything about proper behavior. He’s never sat at a table, brushed his teeth, or even taken a bath before! It’s a lot to learn, and Olive’s brother, Ryan, isn’t helping—he tells Forest that football should be played inside.
Can this wild child ever fit in?
Don’t miss Olive’s and Forest’s next adventure Wild Child: Forest’s First Day of School!
An Imprint Book
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781250103826 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Imprint |
| Publication date: | 04/18/2017 |
| Series: | Wild Child , #1 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| Lexile: | 560L (what's this?) |
| File size: | 45 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
| Age Range: | 5 - 7 Years |
About the Author
Tara Zann can't imagine living in a place without tall trees. Just like Forest from her chapter book series, Wild Child, she has a spirit of adventure, though she might use a zip line instead of swinging from tree to tree on a long, dangling vine. She has no official pets, but dozens of creatures tend to stop by her backyard treehouse on a regular basis.
Dan Widdowson is a children’s illustrator from Loughborough, England. He graduated from the Arts University Bournemouth in 2014, and he has been working on children’s illustration projects ever since. Dan has a keen interest in storytelling and narrative. Some of his many clients include Simon&Schuster, Capstone, Oxford University Press, and Templar.
Tara Zann can't imagine living in a place without tall trees. Just like Forest, she has a spirit of adventure, though she might use a zip line instead of swinging from tree to tree on a long, dangling vine. She has no
official pets, but dozens of creatures tend to stop by her backyard treehouse on a regular basis.
Read an Excerpt
Wild Child: Forest's First Home
By Tara Zann, Dan Widdowson
Imprint
Copyright © 2017 ImprintAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-10382-6
CHAPTER 1
Early one morning, Olive Regle woke up in time to see the sun rise. She climbed out of the tent at her family's campsite and smiled as she heard the birds whistling one another awake. She bundled up, sat down on a camping chair, and waited for her father to wake.
For some reason, Olive felt like it was taking her father forever, but really it had been only about fifteen minutes. Then she heard:
"Argh!"
Olive laughed to herself, realizing their dog, Bailey, had woken up her father with lots of sloppy kisses. She knew there was no way he was getting back to sleep now.
"All right! All right!" Olive heard her father say to Bailey. "Just don't wake up Ryan."
"Too late," grumbled Ryan, Olive's ten-year-old brother.
"Good morning, Olive," said her dad as he came out of the tent. "Hot chocolate?"
"Yes, please!" said Olive.
"I'll boil the water," he said.
"I'll get the marshmallows," said Olive. They had had the same exact conversation the past three mornings.
As she looked around, Olive realized they were the first ones up in the entire campground. But that was fine with her. School started in a few days, and Olive was happy to spend some time with her dad. He worked a lot, and Olive wished he didn't. They both loved to be outdoors, and this camping trip had been Olive's favorite part of the summer so far.
Ryan emerged from the tent, groggy and grumpy. He took a cup of hot chocolate and sat down in one of their camping chairs. Unlike Olive, Ryan was not a morning person. He was barely an afternoon person.
"Dad, I was thinking that —" began Olive.
"Dad, can I have some more marshmallows?" interrupted Ryan.
"Sure," their dad replied, handing him some.
Olive tried again. "I was hoping that —"
"When are we leaving?" Ryan interrupted her again.
Olive pouted. Sometimes her brother was okay, but sometimes he was downright annoying.
"Dad, can I take Bailey for a walk?" Olive said, super fast so Ryan couldn't interrupt her.
Her father looked up from his mug of instant coffee. "That's a good idea before we get back in the car. Don't go too far, though. While you're gone, Ryan and I can pack up the tent and gear."
"Wait! What?" began Ryan, launching into a tirade about the unfairness of life in general, and especially the unfairness of who was packing the car.
Olive saw her opportunity and quickly grabbed Bailey's leash, scampering off with a hidden smile. "Come on, boy," she said to the golden retriever. She attached his leash and they headed away from the campsite.
The pair walked down a well-worn trail. Olive could hear birds calling to one another overhead. She often wondered what they were saying. Meanwhile, Bailey was on high alert for any sudden movement or strange smell — from a squirrel, skunk, or other woodland creature. While Bailey kept his head down, Olive looked at the trees towering above. The trees were taller and wider than any building Olive had ever seen. She imagined them being part of a sprawling kingdom, complete with enchanted creatures.
At that moment, Bailey barked and pulled sharply on his leash. Before she knew what was happening, the leash slipped out of Olive's hand.
"Bailey! Bailey!" yelled Olive. "Come back here!" But the dog had spotted a squirrel and was determined to catch it. He ran off the trail and into the lush green woods.
Olive had no choice but to follow. She ran as fast as her eight-year-old legs would carry her, calling out Bailey's name. On her right, she heard a rustling in a bush.
"Bailey?" she called hesitantly.
The noise turned out to be just a squirrel. She watched as it hopped from the bush to the trunk of the gigantic tree next to it. Soon another squirrel joined the first one, and the two looked like they were playing a game of tag.
Olive kept walking and calling for her dog. She heard more rustling up ahead and ran to it, hoping it was Bailey. She carefully walked toward the sound, dead leaves crunching under her shoes. She held her breath, pulled back a leafy branch, and gasped.
It wasn't Bailey. It was someone else entirely.
CHAPTER 2Right in front of Olive was a boy who looked about her age. He was covered in a layer of dirt and was wearing a shirt and a pair of shorts that looked to be made of leaves, mud, and who knows what else. His hair was messy and ragged, and appeared to have parts of an actual bird's nest in it. His green eyes shone wide and curious. Before Olive could say anything, the boy scampered up the closest tree and onto a high branch.
"Wait!" called Olive.
The boy stopped and peered down at her. Olive looked up. She smiled. He smiled back. A tiny bird poked its head out of the boy's hair, let loose an irritated chirp, and flew off.
"Please come back," she said shyly.
Rather than climb down, the boy grasped a vine and swung through the air. Olive gasped as he let go, flipped backward, and landed perfectly in front of her. Who is this boy? Olive had never seen anything like his acrobatics! Speechless, Olive began to clap. The boy seemed surprised by this but immediately started to clap, too.
"I'm Olive," she said, pointing to herself. "What's your name?"
"Forest," replied the boy.
"Yes, this is a forest," said Olive. "But what's your name?"
"Forest," the boy replied.
"Your name is Forest?" she asked.
Forest nodded.
"Oh," said Olive. "I like that name."
Forest grinned. "Me too."
Suddenly, Forest dove toward Olive's feet and used a stick to help him yank up a three-foot rattlesnake.
Olive gasped. "Wow! I didn't even see it down there! What a giant snake! Is it a dangerous one?"
Forest nodded. "Rattlesnakes can be."
"Thank you for saving me," Olive said shyly but meaningfully.
Forest shrugged. "No problem." He put the snake down, and they watched it slither away.
"Where is your campsite?" asked Olive. "Ours is over there. My family is packing everything up. Do you want to come meet them?" Forest looked sad suddenly. "No family. Just Forest."
Olive looked confused. "You don't have any parents? But ... but ... where do you live?"
Forest gestured to the wide expanse of woods around them. "This how Forest lives." Then he smiled deviously. "Forest watches all the campers. Forest learn many words from them: diaper, pesky bugs, bathroom stinks, poison oak, dead battery, frozen hot dogs, and you kids enjoy nature."
"That sounds like campers, all right," said Olive.
"But Forest has question," he said.
"Yes?" replied Olive.
"What is an Xbox?"
Olive giggled.
Just then, they heard a bark, and Olive turned to see Bailey running up to them.
"There you are!" she said.
Before she could grab his leash, Bailey started barking wildly at Forest.
"Stop, Bailey!" insisted Olive. "This is Forest. He's ... my new friend."
At that, Forest smiled.
Bailey calmed down, and Olive rubbed behind his ears, making his tongue hang out happily.
Forest knelt down to Bailey's eye level. The dog barked.
"Bailey says he had to chase the squirrel," said Forest.
"How do you know that's what he said?" asked Olive, not quite believing the boy.
"You don't?" asked Forest.
"No! Of course not!" said Olive.
"Huh," said Forest with a shrug. "Guess Forest just good with animals."
"Okay," Olive said, a bit suspicious. Then she suddenly felt shy and looked down at her shoes. "Um ... do you want to come meet my family? They're just over this way." She turned to point in the direction she'd come from. When she turned back, Forest was gone.
"Forest? Forest?" called Olive. But there was no reply. Her shoulders sank and she frowned, feeling disappointed. She kind of liked having someone to talk to who didn't interrupt her all the time.
She looked down at Bailey. "Well, I guess we'd better head back before Dad starts to wonder what's taking us so long," she said. She and the dog turned back toward the campsite. On the way there, Olive's head was filled with questions about Forest: Where does he sleep? What does he eat? Does he get lonely? Does he ever brush his teeth?
Olive let Bailey lead the way back, hoping he was sniffing out their campsite instead of more squirrels. Before long, Bailey barked at the sight of Ryan and their father putting food back into the cooler.
Olive ran the last few yards, eager to share what had happened.
"Dad! Ryan!" she called. "You're not going to believe what happened to me!"
"Honey, there's a storm rolling in," said her father. "Can you tell us in the car?"
Olive looked up at the sky, and sure enough, dark clouds were swirling in the distance.
"But I met this boy who lives in the woods! He can climb trees and swing through the air on vines and —"
Ryan snickered. "Can he find the magic pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, too?"
Olive shot him a nasty look. "I'm not making this up."
Her dad piped up. "I'm sure you're not. But if we don't get packed up lickety-split, I'm also sure we're going to be caught in the middle of this storm!"
"Yeah," said Ryan. "You heard Dad. We don't have time!"
Olive stuck her tongue out at her brother. Then they all raced around to pack away the gear and load up the car.
As soon as the first drop of rain fell, the gray clouds seemed to open up and empty out all their water. Olive and her family got soaked as they shoved the last few things into the car and then ducked inside themselves.
Once they were buckled in and driving away from the campsite, Olive looked out the smeary window, watching the raindrops slide down the glass. Through the gray mist, she tried to spot Forest in the trees above but had no luck.
"It wasn't a dream," Olive said quietly to herself. "It was real, right, Bailey? You saw him, didn't you?"
Bailey, who was in the rear area of the car behind a pet barrier, didn't respond. Instead Olive heard the dog's gentle snores. She sighed.
After the long drive home, the rain cleared and everyone was thrilled to finally get out of the car. Olive was happy to see their blue house with its white shutters. Olive's father opened the garage door to unload the gear. Ryan tried to duck inside.
"Not so fast," his father said. "Help us unload."
"Aw, man!" grumbled Ryan.
Meanwhile, Olive went to the back of the car to let Bailey out. When she swung open the door, she was shocked. Sleeping right next to Bailey was none other than Forest!
CHAPTER 3At the sound of the car door opening, Bailey yawned and shook himself out. Forest did the same.
"What are you doing here?" Olive sputtered. She couldn't believe Forest had been in the car the entire drive back! She didn't know what to do. Should she hide Forest? Should she introduce him? Would her father be mad? Would Ryan believe her now?
The decision was made for her as Bailey jumped out of the car and Forest followed.
"Wait!" called Olive.
But it was too late. Her brother had seen Forest. Ryan looked at the dirty and grubby boy, then at Olive, very, very confused.
"Who is this?" her dad asked, coming up to them.
She gazed over at Forest, but he was already hanging upside down from the house's rain gutter. Olive laughed nervously. "Uh ... it's a funny story. You won't believe it, actually."
"Is he a friend of yours from school?" asked her father.
"Uh ... no."
"Is he a new neighbor?" he asked.
"Uh ... not exactly," she said.
"Where is he from, then?" asked her dad.
"He's from the back of the car ...?" Olive offered quietly as her voice dwindled to a whisper.
Her dad gave her a look.
"Well, I tried to tell you I saw a boy in the woods, but someone didn't believe me." She glared at Ryan.
"Don't drag me into this!" said Ryan.
"I didn't think you'd bring him home with us!" said her father.
"I didn't! He must have snuck into the car while we were packing up!"
Curious what all the talk was about, Forest climbed down and stood next to Olive. He smiled widely. He pointed to himself and said, "Forest."
Olive smiled at him. "Forest is my friend. He protected me from a dangerous rattlesnake."
"That's ridiculous," said Ryan.
"It's true!" insisted Olive. Before her brother could say another word, Olive turned to her father. "Can we keep him? I mean, can he stay?"
"Of course he can't stay!" sputtered Ryan.
Their father nodded. "I'm afraid Ryan's right. I'm sure, uh, Forest has a family wondering where he is right now."
Forest shook his head, spraying twigs everywhere. "Family? No. Just trees. And animal friends."
"Isn't that sad?" Olive said.
"Wait a minute," said her dad, rubbing his chin. "I remember reading about a wild child spotted by some hikers in the forest a few years ago. I wonder if that was you."
Forest thought back and had a vague memory of some noisy hikers.
Olive turned to her father. "See, Dad. He doesn't have a family. No place to go. We have to take care of him! We have to try to —"
"Are you serious?" Ryan interrupted. "We don't know anything about him. He's wearing mud pants!"
Their dad thought about it. "Come on, Ryan," he said. "He's only a kid, probably the same age as Olive. How much trouble can he be?"
"I know, right?" exclaimed Olive. "And I'll keep an eye on him."
"I think you'll need to keep more than just one eye on him," Ryan muttered.
Their dad stuck his hand out to shake the boy's hand. "Welcome to the family, Forest."
Forest looked at the hand and then grabbed it, using it as leverage to swing himself up onto Olive's dad's shoulders. He perched there, grinning proudly.
Olive's dad wasn't sure what to do. He looked at Olive, who shrugged and smiled nervously.
"See how friendly he is?" she said. "He already likes you."
Her dad decided to go with it. "I guess that's how they say hello where he's from?"
Olive looked up at Forest, still on her father's shoulders, now making birdcalls.
"Forest, please come down," Olive asked nicely.
Forest hopped down easily.
"My dad was trying to shake your hand," she explained. "That's how you're supposed to say hello."
Forest looked at his own hand. Then he shook it back and forth. He shook the other one, too, and it soon looked like a dance.
"We'll work on it," Olive said quickly.
They unloaded the car, which Forest thought was a big game. He kept putting everything back in the car until Olive asked him to stop. To Olive's surprise, he did stop as soon as she said the word. She didn't have to ask a million times or get interrupted, like she did with her brother. She didn't have to fight to be heard. Forest listened to her. He heard her.
She realized she liked that. A lot.
CHAPTER 4Olive and Forest stood outside the front door of the house. Actually, Olive stood and Forest crouched, trying to communicate with a snail on the ground. Olive looked at Forest's skin, which was still covered with dirt and muck, and realized she couldn't let him in the house like that.
"Okay, Forest, we need to get you cleaned up," she said.
For a second, Olive thought about having Forest take a regular shower, but then she thought he was too dirty to go through the house to get to the shower. She spied the hose coiled next to the house.
Why not? she thought. Water is water.
She led Forest over to the hose and then turned on the water. It was a little cold, but Forest didn't seem to mind. She washed Forest's hands and feet. Olive was just thinking it was going better than expected when suddenly Forest cried, "My turn!" He grabbed the hose from her and sprayed it around, barely missing Olive.
"Er, no, Forest. ... That's not how you ...," she began.
Forest held the hose above his head, letting the water pour down his face.
"Oh, that's better!" she cried happily.
He tried to stick it up his nose. Never mind. After quickly realizing that that wasn't a good idea, he splashed around, stomping his feet, looking like he was having a good time. Olive kind of wished she could join in.... She shook her head to clear away that thought and refocused on her task.
Forest was mostly clean! A layer of dirt had washed away. Olive had to admit it was an unconventional shower, but at least it had worked. She turned the hose off, and Forest shook himself out like a dog, making his matted hair stand up at crazy angles.
"Forest like showers," he said, water dripping down his face.
He turned to go climb a tree — and get dirty again — when Olive called out. "Stop! Please! Stay there! Let me go get a towel," she said.
While she ran inside, Forest walked over and turned the hose back on. Just then, Ryan came outside to check the mailbox.
"Ryan need shower, too!" said Forest.
"What? No!" yelled Ryan.
When Olive returned with the towel, Ryan was dripping from head to toe. He snarled at both Forest and Olive and stomped into the house, water dripping behind him.
"Ryan not like showers?" Forest asked.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Wild Child: Forest's First Home by Tara Zann, Dan Widdowson. Copyright © 2017 Imprint. Excerpted by permission of Imprint.
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