WINGS IN THE WILD

Romance blooms against a backdrop of adversity and environmental conservation efforts.

It’s 2018, and Soleida, a 16-year-old Cuban girl, lives with her artist parents, who create sculptures protesting government laws that criminalize some forms of artistic expression. When a climate change–fueled hurricane destroys their home and exposes the art in their garden to authorities, her parents are arrested, and Soleida must flee, seeking asylum. Cuban American Dariel, also 16, has traveled to Costa Rica with his Abuelo to help him write the story of los caminantes, Cuban migrants fleeing oppression who have been stranded at the border with Nicaragua, unable to continue their journeys. Dariel comes from a wealthy celebrity family in California and has been affected by climate change in the form of dangerous wildfires that destroyed his home. When the two teens first meet in a refugee camp in the Costa Rican jungle, Soleida is traumatized by her journey, and Dariel is unable to connect with her. But slowly they begin a relationship centered on a mutual reverence for nature and a proclivity for the arts—Soleida is a painter, and Dariel is a musician. Chapters with alternating perspectives move the story forward briskly. Luscious verse and beautiful descriptions of the flora and fauna bring attention to the impacts of the climate crisis and the urgent need for change.

Inspiring and hopeful; young love and the call to action resonate.