WINGS

Wings * Aprilynne Pike

2009 * p. 290 * YA Fantasy

Laurel has been homeschooled all her life. When she and her parents move from their secluded forest property to a bigger town and Laurel must start public high school, she finds that she is different in more ways than one.

Laurel feels smothered in anything but shorts, tank tops and flip flops despite the cold. She eats only veggies, fruits and an occasional Sprite. Though these things aren't crazy out of the normal. Laurel soon finds that she is not normal.

What starts as an out of the norm "zit" on her back, turns into a softball-sized lump that eventually sprouts petal-like wings!!!!! Needless to say, she is freaked out. She turns to her new friend David from school, and together they keep her secret and piece by piece discover that Laurel is not human. She is a faerie!

What I thought was so nice about this book is that Pike took a relatively normal and genuine problem such as puberty, and gave it a twist: wings. It is the experience of having your body change and being freaked out. In that sense, I think every teenager can relate.

"A beam of sunlight shone down from a break in the trees above, making her silhouette stretch out on the grass in front of her. The outline of her shadow looked like an enormous butterfly with gauzy wings. And in the same strange way balloons cast shadows, the blackness had just a tinge of blue in it. She tried to make the wing-things move, but although she could feel them--feel every inch of them now, soaking in the rays of sunlight--she had no control over them. Something so life-shattering shouldn't be this beautiful" (50-1).

The book is suspenseful towards the end and I enjoyed it. It was definitely left open, hopefully, for a second book. There were a few parts that I thought were random and left a little unanswered/unresolved.

But I loved the love conflict between Laurel and the boys David and Tamani. I almost cried at the end. (I'm a sap for romance.)

Overall. I loved it. Especially, from the middle to the end.

-Reading level: ages 14 & up.

-A couple references to sex. (just the word.)

-Themes of puberty/change, devotion, being unique/special.

-A great mature fantasy for teens.