Fern Featherstone is 10 years old. Her parents – mum, Defina, and dad, Darwin – are both scientists hunting for unique plants in the Amazon. Fern tries to communicate with the plants around her. Her father thinks they couldn’t possibly understand her, and would prefer her to concentrate on her studies, particularly Latin, so that she knows each plant’s scientific name. After she falls into the river, her parents decide it’s too dangerous for her there and send her to London to live with her uncle, Ned.
There’s a botanist on the same flight to England. One of the boxes of her plants falls open and Fern finds a small plant in her lap which responds to her voice. Fern decides to look after it. But since she’s actually stolen it, it must be kept a secret. When they arrive in London, huge plants have appeared overnight, growing over all the buildings causing lots of damage.
Uncle Ned’s neighbour is a boy, Woody, who’s scared of plants, but when her plant (named ‘Special’) droops, Fern convinces Woody to go with her to the botanist’s house to find the right nutrients for it. That adventure ends badly.
Fern discovers that the botanist, Professor Silk, is responsible for the plants taking over London. She has bigger, madder plans – her plants are bred to eat people. Fern is captured. Special is fed a superfood and is now very large. Fern is put into a cell with Special and the professor expects Special to devour Fern.
Will Special remember her? Will Fern, Woody and Uncle Ned be able to stop Professor Silk? Find out in The Secret Wild!
Reviewed by Bob Moore
Age Guide 9+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex has a degree in Journalism from Cardiff University and a post graduate diploma in Media Relations. She has worked in public relations and as corporate writer, as well as a food writer and photographer for blogs, local newspapers and The Times. She did the Golden Egg Foundation Course and is a member of SCWBI, where she has recently taken part in the Debut Bootcamp and the OMG conference.
