Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms

Listeners will be drawn to the spunk and determination of Wilhelmina Silver, who is being raised on her father's farm in Zimbabwe. With the death of her father, Will's carefree life changes as her guardian's new wife ships her off to a British boarding school. Bianca Amato narrates with compassion. Her joy is contagious as Will rides through the Zimbabwean countryside with the wind whistling through her ears. At the new school Amato makes Will's loneliness palpable. Amato's supporting characters are also distinctive--especially Daniel's feisty grandmother, who helps Will set her future course. A.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 19, 2014
Twelve-year-old Wilhelmina “Will” Silver loves her “wildcat life” on a farm “in the hottest corner of Zimbabwe” where she rides horses, trains monkeys, and plays with her friend Simon. Disapproving neighbors consider her “a different species,” but her widowed father thinks her “irrefutably the most beautiful creature living.” His untimely death shatters Will’s world, and results in her being sent to an English boarding school. Will’s father’s dying words, “Courage, chook, ja?” sustain her in a mystifying new environment for which she has no preparation or advocate, where mocking classmates call her savage. Employing a close third-person narrative, Rundell (Rooftoppers) deftly conveys the terror that impels Will to escape into the streets of London, which she navigates with ingenuity and survival skills honed in Africa. Lyrical prose, Zimbabwean dialect, and evocative dialogue express Will’s internal and external worlds; after a street fight, “her heart was rattling around like a cutlery drawer in an earthquake. She spoke to an imaginary Simon. ‘Sha, hey?’ ” A gripping, magical, and heartwarming tale of resilience, friendship, and hope. Ages 8–12. Agent: Claire Wilson, Rogers, Coleridge & White.