Readers may at first be misled, thinking that the wild kid of the title is the worried-looking boy clinging with long slender fingers to a cliff in the eye-catching jacket painting. However, once they reach the pictured climactic scene, readers may be surprised that the lad portrayed is the story's very tame protagonist, Sammy, a pudgy, maladroit 12-year-old with Down syndrome. With his simply worded third- person narrative, Mazer (Snowbound; The Dog in the Freezer) captures the thoughts and emotions--and occasionally profound insights--of someone whom most people, including the boy's own family, discount for being "retarded." Made to stay outside because he insulted his mother's boyfriend, "uncle" Carl, Sammy takes off on his bike rather than apologize. But the bike gets stolen, and in chasing down the thief, Sammy winds up lost in a nearby state forest where he literally stumbles across the eponymous Kevin. A reform-school escapee, Kevin at first keeps Sammy prisoner in his rude shelter, but then befriends him and teaches him to overcome some of his supposed disabilities. Sammy's innocent, doglike faith in suspicious, cynical Kevin is touching, yet not enough to sustain what is more like a novella than a full-length novel. And with the tensions that caused Sammy to leave home remaining unresolved upon his return, the ending falls flat. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Gr 4-8-Sammy's troubles keep escalating. First he is punished for being fresh to Mom's friend Carl. Then he goes off to the store by himself, which is forbidden, and his new bike is stolen when he fails to chain it. Chasing the thief, Sammy becomes lost. Mazer brings the boy to life without revealing to readers anything that Sammy wouldn't tell, until Kevin, a wild kid who holds him captive in the woods, asks him if he's dumb. He says, "No, I'm Down's. I'm young for my age. I'm a special person." Vividly and with a fast pace, Mazer describes Sammy's world, his awful predicament, his magnificent spirit, and his incredible determination. The wild kid gradually changes from a vicious monster into a friend. As Sammy says, "Just because you're not always good doesn't make you bad." During their time together, Kevin and Sammy learn some important lessons from one another. The sentences are short, the descriptions simple, and the interaction between the characters complex and intriguing. Readers need to piece together Kevin's history and decipher the sometimes conflicting statements that Sammy makes. Phrases often used with persons with disabilities echo throughout the narrative. Yet this is not a "special" book for "special" readers, as sometimes books are termed that are too difficult or too limited in appeal. It's for anyone looking for an adventure, a survival story on many levels, or a compelling read.-Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA
With remarkable restraint and without sentimentality, Mazer tells the story of Sammy, a twelve-year-old boy with Down syndrome held captive in the woods by Kevin, a delinquent teenage runaway. Convincingly told from Sammy's guileless point of view, the spare and simple narrative is at turns harrowing and touching. Short, suspenseful chapters move the action along; intriguing characterization lends depth to the drama. When Sammy, who's far from his home and lost, stumbles upon Kevin's forest lair, Kevin ties Sammy up, afraid that if he lets Sammy go, Kevin will be tracked down and sent back to reform school. Sammy never wavers in his desire to go home, but his optimistic outlook and good humor eventually win Kevin's confidence, and an unlikely friendship develops between the two boys. Angry, hostile Kevin comes to depend on Sammy's companionship; overprotected Sammy, who has been punished-and sometimes hit-for not behaving like "an almost-grown-up person," gets a taste of independence and freedom while surviving in the woods, as Kevin insists that he learn to do things on his own. Mazer manages to portray both the victim and the victimizer as sympathetic, complex characters, something Sammy knows is true all along: "Just because you're not always good doesn't make you bad." The realistic ending, which finds Sammy safe and at home, leaves Kevin's story unresolved and a deep ache in Sammy's heart. "People said Sammy was slow, but he knew things." Sammy, who knows about forgiveness and hope, is worth taking time to listen to.
--Horn Book
When 12-year-old Sammy, who has Down's syndrome, gets lost (while he chases after his stolen bike and its rider, he climbs on the back of a truck and winds up miles from home), he encounters Kevin, a runaway who has been living on his own in the forest. Afraid that Sammy will give him away to the authorities, Kevin won't let him return home, and eventually the two boys form a tenuous friendship. Although Kevin grows protective, Sammy never loses his determination to leave; when he makes his break, he ends up in danger, and Kevin risks his freedom to save him. In the poignant ending, Sammy, safe at home, holds on to the hope that one day Kevin will come to live with him; no one else believes Kevin exists. Mazer (Twelve Shots, 1997, etc.), keeping the perspective strictly Sammy's, structures the story so that the boys are two sides of the same coin: one dependent and sweet-natured, but with a stubborn streak, and the other tough, self-reliant, and kind only at the core. Realistically, and with small, honest gestures, each helps the other to grow; Sammy becomes more independent, while Kevin becomes more compassionate. An exciting, unusual survival story, very well told. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-14)
