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Title details for The Last Wild by Piers Torday - Available

The Last Wild

#1 in series

by Piers Torday
Oliver J. Hembrough
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Publisher Marketing: In a world where animals no longer exist, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes sometimes feels like he hardly exists either. Locked away in a home for troubled children, he's told there's something wrong with him. So when he meets a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach, Kester thinks he's finally gone crazy. But the animals have something to say. And they need him. The pigeons fly Kester to a wild place where the last creatures in the land have survived. A wise stag needs Kester's help, and together they must embark on a great journey, joined along the way by an overenthusiastic wolf cub, a military-trained cockroach, a mouse with a ritual for everything, and a stubborn girl named Polly. The animals saved Kester Jaynes. But can Kester save the animals?

  • Creators

  • Series

    Last Wild

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 1, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781490614304
      • File size: 227776 KB
      • Duration: 07:54:31

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 820
    • Text Difficulty: 3-4

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 16, 2013
      In this offbeat semi-apocalyptic fantasy, debut novelist Torday introduces 12-year-old Kester Jaynes, a prisoner at Spectrum Hall Academy for Challenging Children. Kester’s world was turned upside down by the death of his mother six years earlier (he hasn’t spoken since). The larger world is in tumult, too, wrecked by global warming and “the red-eye,” which killed off most animal life and threatens humans with extinction. One day, Kester is stunned to discover he can communicate with cockroaches, pigeons, and other “varmints,” who ask him for help: “*Come with us now, Kester Jaynes. Or rot here forever. The choice is yours.*” With the aid of the varmints, Kester escapes from Spectrum Hall and learns that he is the chosen savior of “the last wild,” the few remaining animals on Earth. A sort of dystopian Winnie-the-Pooh, Torday’s story is alternately somber, thrilling, and silly, filled with eccentric human and animal characters with distinctive voices. That includes Kester—although his fellow humans see him as silent, his courage, actions, and growth speak volumes. Ages 8–12. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Oliver Hembrough gives voice to the thoughts of Kester, a mute teen who is incarcerated. Kester realizes that he can communicate with the last remnants of wildlife in a world in which nearly all creatures have died from the deadly red-eye virus. A group of animals helps him escape and looks to him as the savior of "the last wild." Hembrough's dynamic narration adds suspense, even when the story occasionally becomes predictable. His performance features two standout characters, a befuddled white pigeon who squawks jumbled commentary and a cockroach who gruffly barks militaristic orders as he rides safely in Kester's pocket. Hembrough's English accent suits this dystopian adventure, which is peppered with British words that are uncommon in the American lexicon. L.T. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:820
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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