Sweet, precious story about some realistic kids in a all-too-common life situation, dealing with divorced parents, a mom with depression, navigating potential CPS issues, parentification, and food insecurity. The oldest child feels like she has to notice and balance everyone's emotions in the family ("my fulcrum duties"). She also feels like she has to hide the family neglect and drama so her and her little brother won't be taken away ("I need to make us look so good on the outside that no one will question what's going on inside.") But it's also about a kooky neighbor who insists that the city allows her yard to have 10 foot high weeds, and the healing power of nature. The main character/narrator is just such a genuine good kid. This truly made me cry at multiple points. A great read for middle-graders.

“I am quiet. Those last words strike a chord in me. Listening, watching, protecting. I think of Mom. I think of Ian. I think of spotting neglect.” - Joy, Rewilding

Rewilding by Lisa Gerlits is a realistic, sad but ultimately heartwarming story of Joy Holderman, an eleven year old girl, trying her best to take care of her younger brother Ian and her mother when their father leaves the family. She tries to parent her brother and run the household while her mother spends her days laying on the couch, all in an effort to keep Child Protective Services becoming involved in their situation.

As if Joy doesn’t have enough on her plate, Ian finds a baby bird in a wood pile and begs Joy to keep it. Initially reluctant, Joy soon heavily invests in doing the best to care for the bird - even asking for help from the scary and strange woman in her neighborhood. What unfolds from here is a story about what it means to be judged/not everything is as it seems, asking for help, community, and friendship.

The story contains heavy concepts of neglect, emotional abuse, and how people impact the environment. There is nothing graphic but rather implied or simply stated (like what is gaslighting.)

I believe this story is written sensitively and will appeal to middle school students who generally engage with stories contain characters their age who struggle with feeling confident and successful. Joy and Ian’s home life will, unfortunately, resonate with some students as well but this could also help those students understand that speaking up and asking for help can lead to positive changes.

This novel could be paired with Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, Blended by Sharon M. Draper and Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

A delightful book about Rewilding nature and the joys of finding unexpected help from neighbours. Only thing I didn’t like was what I felt was a brief, unexplained, and unnecessary mild reference to bulimia, especially when the children are facing hunger at times due to the break up of their parents’ marriage it made it feel irrelevant/inappropriate when at other parts of the book she was being so careful not to waste food when it was scarce. If it was an important part of the story, I felt it could have been spoken more about. As I’m taking a permaculture course and have a small garden myself, I felt it was an extremely poignant young adult book on the importance of taking care of our Mother Earth. A gentle and lovely story that was hard for me to put down. Also respectfully, sensitively, and kindly covers the topic of mental health issues, gaslighting, an emotionally/mentally abusive parent, trauma, and divorce.

oy Holderman and her brother Ian have had a hard time since their parents divorced. Their father isn't great about picking them up on time or following through with plans, and their mother is so depressed that she often doesn't make it out of bed in order to buy groceries or take care of the yard. The neighbors are starting to notice, and when Joy's best friend Char overhears Ian talking to the school counselor, Ms. Bertoli, Joy panicks about Children's Protective Services getting involved. When she is trying to do some lawn care herself, she finds an injured bird and is afraid a neighbor's cat might kill it, so she brings it inside and tries to take care of it. When she panics that she has perhaps done the wrong thing, she consults a neighbor whose yard is rewilded, which many of the other neighbors do not like. Mrs. MacRury, or Ezzie, as she likes to be called, is not friendly at first, but does help with the bird. Joy and Ian spend time in her yard, and it is a welcome break from their troubles at home. Joy does laundry, cooks, and makes a list of groceries for her mother. She sees a "final notice" bill for the electricity, which is soon cut off, and the mother still isn't motivated to action. Joy texts her mother's friend, Simone, telling her that they are not okay, especially after she sees legal papers indicating that her father is seeking custody because of the "mental instability" of the mother. This is especially important, since long held secrets about the father's interaction with the children come to light. Will Joy and her family be able to find a way forward?
Strengths: Stories about parental abuse and neglect tend to circulate well in my library; my daughter was a big fan. She explained that the books made her feel better about her own life, and I see this played out frequently in my library, usually in the winter, when readers crave this kind of comfort. The Holderman situation isn't dire, but it's getting there. Joy is able to take care of Ian, and does not want anyone, even her friend Char, to know their business. There are supportive adults, like Ms. Bertoli and Ezzie, and that's always a good, hopeful inclusion in this type of book. The problematic behavior of the father is foreshadowed nicely, and the inclusion of gaslighting is something that doesn't show up a lot in middle grade novels. Ezzie is an interesting character, and I love that she is rewilding her yard. I've been working on my own property since I read Burns' The Hive Detectives, and thankfully my neighbors have all been supportive. It's an interesting and important thing for readers to learn about!.
Weaknesses: The illustration style of the cover and interior pictures make this seem very young. It might be hard to get seventh and eighth grade readers to pick this up.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who are comforted by stories about children whose lives are worse than their own like Kalmar's Stealing Mt. Rushmore, LeZotte's Deer Run Home or Florence and Scrimger's The Other Side of Perfect.

This is is a charming story about Joy, a young girl who is struggling with her parents' break up and her mother's consequent depression. She is terrified that her school will summon child protective services if they find out what is really going on in her home.

All this puts additional pressure on Joy to act as a parent to her younger brother, with regard to whom she already has a guilty conscience for reasons we discover.

In the midst of all, Joy finds an unexpected respite after she discovers a baby bird, apparently abandoned, and establishes a relationship of sorts with a neighbour who is creating a wild garden on her property.

It is a touching story, with important lessons for young readers, but I did feel that the illustrations were inadequate and didn't really match the nature of the story telling. It gets 3.5 stars.

Great youth fiction sensitively discussing common growing up themes like body image. Thank you for opportunity to review.