Wild Boy

What happens when society finds a wild boy alone in the woods and tries to civilize him? A true story from the author of The Fairy Ring. One day in 1798, woodsmen in southern France returned from the forest having captured a naked boy. He had been running wild, digging for food, and was covered with scars. In the village square, people gathered around, gaping and jabbering in words the boy didn’t understand. And so began the curious public life of the boy known as the Savage of Aveyron, whose journey took him all the way to Paris. Though the wild boy’s world was forever changed, some things stayed the same: sometimes, when the mountain winds blew, “he looked up at the sky, made sounds deep in his throat, and gave great bursts of laughter.” In a moving work of narrative nonfiction that reads like a novel, Mary Losure invests another compelling story from history with vivid and arresting new life. Back matter includes an author’s note, source notes, and a bibliography.

The first member of Duran Duran to write his memoirs tells the full story of the excesses, glamour and excitement they lived through in the 1980s. When 19-year-old Andy Taylor returned from his band's tour of military bases in Germany and saw an advert in Melody Maker in April 1980 asking for a 'live wire guitarist' to audition in Birmingham, he saw his chance. Even he could not have predicted what happened next. The group, Duran Duran, released their first single, 'Planet Earth', ten months later and soon became the biggest band since the Beatles. Emerging in the post-punk era, Duran headed the New Romantic movement and with their stunning videos and style consciousness, they set the trend for the consumerist 1980s. Popular with everyone from rockers to Princess Diana, they had a string of massive worldwide hits such as 'Rio', 'The Reflex' and 'A View to a Kill'. They won Grammys and an Ivor Novello award among many other things. By Live Aid, in 1985, they were at their very pinnacle of success - and then the band began to fall apart. At the centre of it all, giving the group its musical pulse, was lead guitarist Andy Taylor. In this revealing and raw memoir, Taylor recalls the highs and lows of an unbelievable period where the squeaky clean facade hid the truth of wild partying as five young men took just about every opportunity that was offered to them. Andy Taylor's story is of an era when MTV was new, the media allowed superstars to get away with lots and rock stars knew how to party like there was no tomorrow. Wild Boy is a book that millions of fans of Duran Duran around the world will want to read to know the full story of what really happened.

A young man escapes his painful past by retreating to the rustic comfort of the Italian Alps in this gorgeously wrought memoir from the internationally bestselling author of the “exquisite” (Annie Proulx) novel The Eight Mountains. When life in the city becomes too overwhelming for Paolo, he decides to take refuge high in the Italian mountains. Returning to the breathtaking Valle d’Aosta—known for its snowcapped mountain peaks—after a decade’s absence, he rediscovers a simpler life and develops deep human connections with two neighbors. In this stunning landscape, he begins to take stock of his life and consider what he truly values. With lyrical and evocative prose, The Wild Boy is a testament to the power of the natural world, the necessity of an ever-questioning mind, and the resilience of the human spirit.

I had a really BIG dream. I wanted to go on a MASSIVE adventure! This is the true story of Brando Yelavich, also known as Wildboy, who slept in a tent, hunted and fished for his food and came up close to seals and sharks on his 8000 km journey around the coast of New Zealand. His epic story will capture the imagination of any kid who, like Brando, longs for adventure in the great outdoors. Throughout the book readers will fall in love with the amazing scenery and enjoy spotting the New Zealand wildlife. And they'll have loads of fun finding the compass hidden on every page!

Ever since the Sheriff of Nottingham killed his father, Rook has run wild in Sherwood Forest, dreaming of his day for vengeance. Finally, he has found his chance. Not with the sheriff himself, but with the evil man’s son, snared by one of the mantraps his own father planted to catch outlaws such as Rook. Filled with clashes of sword and emotion, this page-turning installment in Nancy Springer’s Tales of Rowan Hood series will leave readers eager to return to Sherwood, where outlaws are often innocent, and survival is no game.

Murder mystery meets carnival flair in a rollicking Victorian adventure centered on a boy with a unique appearance — and unique gifts. In the seedy underworld of Victorian London, a boy is born and abandoned. Snatched up by an unscrupulous and abusive showman, Wild Boy, covered in hair from head to toe, becomes a sideshow freak. Isolated from other children and wickedly abused by the cruel master who bought him, Wild Boy becomes an avid observer, developing Sherlock Holmes–like deductive skills. Although he is tormented and insulted, kicked and spat at, his quick mind takes in everything he sees. When a murder occurs at the fair, Wild Boy is hastily accused. Can he use his powers of deduction to save himself? And will the talented and spunky young acrobat Clarissa be with him — or against him? Readers will be swept along by the cinematic pace, immersed in the vivid historical setting, and gripped by suspense as they wait to find out if a better fate could possibly await someone so very different.

“An inspiring story of resilience, told with a vivid sense of character and humour.” —RICHARD CROUSE, CTV host and film critic Film critic, writer, and broadcaster Thom Ernst chronicles his life growing up with an abusive father in rural Ontario. The residents of Waubamik know about the Wild Boy, a somewhat feral child, standing nearly naked in a rusty playground of weeds and discarded metal, clutching a headless doll. They know the boy has been plucked from poverty and resettled into a middle-class family. But they don’t know that something worse awaits him there. This is the story of a system that failed, a community that looked the other way, and a family that kept silent. It is also a record of the popular culture of the 1960s — a powerful set of myths that kept a boy comforted. But ultimately, The Wild Boy of Waubamik is a story of triumph, of a man who grew up to become a film critic and broadcaster despite his abusive childhood. It reminds us that life, even at its darkest, can surprise us with moments of joy and hope and dreams for the future.

From London’s vilest slums to its grandest palaces, Wild Boy and Clarissa hunt a murderous poisoner in hope of proving themselves to a skeptical society. London, 1842. Wild Boy, master detective and former freak-show performer, and Clarissa, circus acrobat and troublemaker, are the secret last hope of a city beset by horror. A poisoner stalks the streets, leaving victims mad with terror?—?and then dead. Can the Black Terror be traced to a demon called Malphas? With their partnership threatened by rules and regulations, can Wild Boy and Clarissa uncover a cure in time to save the queen and the city?