There are interweaving chapters from a filly's point of view as she is weaned, comes to the farm and learns to trust people. She has trouble fitting in because of the cultural and language differences in her new school, but also because she can't communicate well with her family. Her father is a racehorse trainer and her brother is training to be a jockey, but they won't include her in any of the racetrack business. They still think of her as a little 7 year old girl, who likes Snow White, while she has moved on to be a horse crazy young woman who can ride just like they can and dreams of becoming a jockey. Lidie moves to New York from Brazil, to live with her father and brother whom she hasn't seen in several years. I definitely recommend it to anyone (regardless of age) who likes horses and wants a quick and easy read.Ī good story about learning to follow your dream. It's a solid book that I enjoyed, and it was well worth my time and money. But it's a mid-grade book that I'm reading as not-a-middle-grader and I have no complaints. Was it deeply meaningful and soul-moving? No.

The ending was feel-good and made me smile without being sappy. I briefly thought that the emphasis on Lidie and pink was a little too heavy-handed but by the end of the book I didn't care. Nothing really feels too unrealistic, overdone or cliche. These scenes are in third-person and they are brief enough that you get the sensations and it's over before it gets too deep in anthropomorphism. I loved the scenes written from Wild Girl's perspective. The characters are wholly believable, and I had some empathy for Lidie and her experience with a new country and new language - some of my family is from Russia so the pains of language barriers are quite familiar. The story is short and sweet, and even though it's set in the racing world, I wasn't too bothered by that aspect. The book was cheap, and short, and minus the racing bit, the story really did sound interesting! So I gave it a shot. Obviously, this book didn't really scream 'take me!'īut I kept seeing good reviews. I dislike horse racing, and this is a book about the daughter of a racehorse trainer and a racehorse to-be.

Wild Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff