Wild Boy

September 30, 2013
After eight grueling years in a London workhouse, an extremely hairy orphan is taken by "Carnival King" Augustus T. Finch, dubbed Wild Boy, and advertised as "the missing link between man and bear!" The year is 1841, and the traveling circus subjects 11-year-old Wild Boy to cruelty, prejudice, and abuse, but also sharpens his observation skills: "It was just what came from years of being locked up with nothing to do but watch the world and dream that he was someone else." When a doctor and professor are found dead nearby, Wild Boy and a fellow circus performer and amateur thief, Clarissa, turn into suspects on the run, with an ominous stolen note in hand about a futuristic machine designed for ethically dubious purposes. Elements of classic detective stories unfold against a magnetic vintage carnival backdrop, and the narrative maintains levity despite Wild Boy's maltreatment. British author/editor Jones delivers a message about true friendship through Clarissa who learns to love Wild Boyânot as a spectacle, but as an individual whose struggles have contributed to his substance and complexity. Ages 10âup. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency.

October 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Sherlock Holmes meets Oliver Twist in this mystery set in a carnival of oddities in 1841 London. A boy moves from a wretched workhouse to Augustus T. Finch's traveling carnival, hoping to belong somewhere. Feared and reviled because thick hair covers his entire body, the child knows only the name "Wild Boy." This hirsute hero assuages his loneliness by observing passersby, analyzing minute clues to peel back details of their lives. Wild Boy and another circus child, Clarissa, become involved in a mystery of their own when a hooded man murders carnival member and eccentric scientist Henry Wollstonecraft over his curous "machine." Framed for the crime, Wild Boy must use his detective skills to clear his name, but he becomes even more invested when he learns the machine might be able to make him look "normal." Jones explores the traditional themes of acceptance and identity. Wild Boy comes to accept his knack for detective work and faces a choice between honoring his friendship with Clarissa and personal gain. The mystery unravels along well-trodden paths. As soon as Wild Boy tells the audience that he trusts a certain character above all others, savvy readers will guess at that character's guilt. While many novels express with greater originality the theme of coming to terms with society's judgments, this one may appeal to children who like unusual characters and quirky historical settings in their detective stories.-Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2013
Wild Boy's head-to-toe fur has garnered him scorn and abuse from commoners, but his extraordinary intellectual gifts eventually win him a future with a powerful, elite group called the Gentlemen. Wild Boy has been featured in a freak show for three years, having willingly left his deplorable orphanage/workhouse at age 8. The cockney patterns that litter his speech belie powers of observation and deduction that rival those of Sherlock Holmes; not surprisingly, the story's setting is the smoke-shrouded, industrial London of 1841. When Wild Boy is about to be hanged by the unseemly circus crew for a murder he did not commit, teen acrobat Clarissa helps him escape. Together, they follow clues through sewers and back alleys, learning about an extraordinary electrical device linked to the murder: "The machine what changes you." At one point, Wild Boy considers using the machine to de-freak himself, but far more narration is devoted to action-packed episodes than to self-reflection. Amusing accounts of his reasoning skills contrast with depictions of violence, gore and depravity. This semihistorical novel is long on steampunk imagery--"the metal brain trembled and buzzed"--and short on characterization. Classism lurks beneath the surface of this fantastical adventure story that misses a good many opportunities to plumb the depths. (Adventure. 9-14)

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September 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 Wild Boy, covered in straggly brown hair, is a sideshow circus freak with Sherlockian powers of deduction. On the lam after being unfairly accused of murder, he and his acrobat-cum-pickpocket friend, Clarissa, begin their own investigation through the gritty, smoky streets of Victorian London. From a gross anatomy lab (including a memorably gruesome scene involving toppled shelves of preserved body parts) to the Tower of London, their search gradually leads them to a secret cabal of scientists intent on building a miraculous machine that corrals the newly discovered power of electricity to perform grotesque experiments. Lloyd Jones cunningly reveals clues as the sympathetic Wild Boy gets closer to discovering the identity of the killer and closer to making a difficult decision: Will he turn in the killer and see justice done? Or will he use the powerful machine to get what he always wanted: to look like a normal boy? Although an abundance of characters and occasionally stilted dialects may confuse younger readers, Lloyd Jones has nonetheless crafted a thrilling mystery, full of morbid twists and macabre turns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Pulled from an orphanage to work in a traveling carnival's freak show, Wild Boy (covered head-to-foot in hair) suffers abuse and degradation at the hands of his audience and employers alike. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, Wild Boy uses his Holmesian powers of observation to find the real culprit. Gripping intrigue and a gritty Victorian backdrop can't rescue the contrived premise and piecemeal plot.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)