Even a life on the untamed plains of Africa cant prepare Wilhelmina for the wilds of an English boarding school in this lovely and lyrical novel from the author of Rooftoppers, which Booklist called a glorious adventure.Wilhelmina Silvers world is golden. Living half-wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult. Lions and hyenas are nothing compared to packs of vicious schoolgirls. Where can a girl run to in London? And will she have the courage to survive? From the author of the witty, inventively poetic Rooftoppers comes an utterly beautiful story thats sure to be treasured.

 

This book was recognised in the Fiction & Poetry category by the Horn Book Award. Presented annually since 1967 by the Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine for excellence in childrens and young adult literature. This honour is granted in the three categories of Fiction and Poetry, Non-fiction, and Picture Book. Presented annually since 1967 by the Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine for excellence in childrens and young adult literature. This honour is granted in the three categories of Fiction and Poetry, Non-fiction, and Picture Book. It was recognised in the Ages 10-14 Years category by the Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens.

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 248 pages in this book. It is an anthology. This book was published 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers .

Katherine Rundell was born in 1987 and grew up in Africa and Europe. In 2008 she was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Her first book, The Girl Savage, was born of her love of Zimbabwe and her own childhood there; her second, Rooftoppers, was inspired by summers working in Paris and by night-time trespassing on the rooftops of Oxford colleges. She is currently working on her doctorate alongisde an adult novel. Melissa Castrillon is a freelance illustrator currently based in Cambridge, England. She grew up in a small town called Hitchin and moved to Cambridge eight years ago, where she earned a First class Honors Degree in illustration. In 2014 she earned a Master's Degree in children's book illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. She is the illustrator of If I Had a Little Dream and Yellow Kayak , and the author-illustrator of The Balcony .