The Last Wild

Piers Torday's The Last Wild is a gripping adventure for 9 year olds about a boy who can't speak to people but finds out the animals can talk to him.

What happens

Kester is twelve and he's been shut away at Spectrum Hall for six years. It's a glass building on a clifftop for "challenging children", and nobody ever gets to leave. He hasn't said a single word out loud since his mum died.

The world outside isn't doing much better. A disease called the red-eye has wiped out almost every animal. All that's left are the pests nobody wanted (moths, spiders, cockroaches and pigeons, which everyone just calls varmints). Every meal is the same pink gloop, and whatever flavour it claims to be, it tastes of prawn-cocktail crisps.

Then a cockroach in the yard asks Kester for help. A spider whistles a word into his head in the Doctor's office. And one night a flock of pigeons smashes through his window with a message only he can hear.

Being inside Kester's head is a big part of the fun. He's lonely and sad, but he's also quietly sarcastic about everyone around him. When his words finally come back, the first thing he tells the pigeons is to get out of his face (nobody said the words had to be polite!).

The animals are brilliant company too. The cockroach Kester names the General barks orders like a sergeant major. One white pigeon gets every message slightly muddled. Who knew a cockroach could sigh?

It's worth knowing this one starts in a dark place. Kester's mum dying is part of his backstory, and his memory of saying goodbye to her in hospital is very sad. He was taken from home in the night by a stranger. The Doctor who runs the Hall is creepy and threatening, and a chase ends at a cliff edge with a syringe. A sensitive reader might find the loneliness hard going.

If your reader doesn't mind some darkness with their adventure, though, there's so much hope in here. It's about a boy finding his voice with some very unlikely friends.

What to read next

And if they love the idea of hearing exactly what animals are thinking, try Evie in the Jungle next. Evie can talk to animals with her mind too, and she heads to the Amazon to escape all the fuss it's caused.