Wild Dreamers

Gr 7 Up–Leandro escaped Cuba on a boat with his family, but he’s convinced his en-route watery tumble caused his father’s drowning. Bellido embodies him as deep, anguished, hesitant, with just a hint of an accent. The voyage’s stowaway puppy was trained as Leandro’s therapy dog: “I hum a song/ into his hand/ until he understands,” Cielo the singing dog explains about Leandro’s panic attacks, soothingly voiced by Aleman. Ana, vulnerably ciphered by Reynoso—from dreamy to determined—is also fatherless, not because he’s dead but because she and her mother must stay hidden from the FBI-most-wanted domestic terrorist he’s become. The teens’ initial meeting in a moonlit park is magical, an instant connection that serendipitously continues when they rediscover each other at the same high school. Together, they help create a re-wilding group to assist local efforts in sustainably saving threatened wildlife.