When Brazilian girl Lidie is 7 years old, her mother dies, and her poor father and 13-year-old brother emigrate to the United States, leaving her with an aunt and uncle, until they can afford to bring her along and have a home for her to live in.
Wild Girl begins five years afterwards. Lidie is 12, and is finally going to live with her father and brother, who are working on a farm that raises and trains race horses in New York state. When she arrives, they have prepared a fine home for the 7-year-old they left behind, but not for the 12-year-old they get. Lidie is embarrassed by all the "babyish" things... the decor in her room, the clothes they've bought her, and to add to the struggle, she just barely speaks English, making communication at school or in town nearly impossible for her. Her solace is in the new horse, Wild Girl, brought to the farm. Like her, the new horse doesn't yet feel at home; so she feels a kinship with the young horse.
The horses are merely a vehicle for telling a story about belonging, and how a family that's been separated for several years struggles to become a family again. ( )

Grades 3-5
Lidie has lived with her aunt and uncle in Brazil since her mother died, and her father and brother left to try to build a new life in New York. When she is 12, they send for her and she is excited to join them at the horse farm where they work. Lidie's acclimation to the United States is paralleled by that of Wild Girl, the filly that has just arrived at the farm. Horse lovers will enjoy the story, but it does fall a little flat compared to Giff's others. ( )

this book is awesome!! :-) especially if you like the movie FLICKA. it seems like that movie is based off of this book. ive seen the movie about two times and reading this book it sounded just like the movie. thats why i think they got the movie from this book. ( )

This book is really good and tells the tale of a girl from Jales going to live with her father in America. The story shows how people change and how we are reunited as a family. ( )

I love this book. This story about Lidia moving fromJales, Brazil is really cute. I love that Lidia loves horses so much and realizes that she is just like he horse Wild Girl. The book is a great story. ( )