School Library Journal (Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

Gr 5-8 Sherlock Holmes meets Oliver Twist in this mystery set in a carnival of oddities in 1841 London. A boy moves from a wretched workhouse to Augustus T. Finch's traveling carnival, hoping to belong somewhere. Feared and reviled because thick hair covers his entire body, the child knows only the name "Wild Boy." This hirsute hero assuages his loneliness by observing passersby, analyzing minute clues to peel back details of their lives. Wild Boy and another circus child, Clarissa, become involved in a mystery of their own when a hooded man murders carnival member and eccentric scientist Henry Wollstonecraft over his curous "machine." Framed for the crime, Wild Boy must use his detective skills to clear his name, but he becomes even more invested when he learns the machine might be able to make him look "normal." Jones explores the traditional themes of acceptance and identity. Wild Boy comes to accept his knack for detective work and faces a choice between honoring his friendship with Clarissa and personal gain. The mystery unravels along well-trodden paths. As soon as Wild Boy tells the audience that he trusts a certain character above all others, savvy readers will guess at that character's guilt. While many novels express with greater originality the theme of coming to terms with society's judgments, this one may appeal to children who like unusual characters and quirky historical settings in their detective stories. Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT

Horn Book

Pulled from an orphanage to work in a traveling carnival's freak show, Wild Boy (covered head-to-foot in hair) suffers abuse and degradation at the hands of his audience and employers alike. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, Wild Boy uses his Holmesian powers of observation to find the real culprit. Gripping intrigue and a gritty Victorian backdrop can't rescue the contrived premise and piecemeal plot.

ALA Booklist (Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

for reading alone. In the year 1800, an authentic wild child was captured near the village of Saint-Sernin in the south of France. How the boy had survived, naked and alone in the forest, remains a mystery to this day. More to the point: when his case continued to baffle leading scientists of the day, the boy was declared hopelessly retarded and remanded to an institution. There, he caught the eye and imagination of a young doctor named Jean-Marc Itard, who adopted the child and named him Victor. Inspired by both the historical case and Francois Truffaut's 1970 movie, The Wild Child, Gerstein has written and illustrated a haunting and sometimes heartbreaking version. Cinematic in the layout and design of its beautifully colored illustrations, The Wild Boy is masterful in capturing Victor's passionate love for the wilderness and contrasting it with the hideous bleakness of the civilized existence he must endure until his adoption by Itard. Gerstein's prose finds power in its simplicity and emotional resonance in its declarative understatement: He loved the icy water from the mountain streams and drank with his chin touching the mossy rocks. Meanwhile, the narrative strength and energy of the illustrations expand the inherent drama of Victor's situation. Together, Gerstein's text and pictures work to create an unforgettable story that engages the empathy of readers while stimulating their imaginations. Gerstein's novel about Victor is reviewed in the Older Readers section in this issue. (Reviewed October 1, 1998)

Kirkus Reviews

Wild Boy's head-to-toe fur has garnered him scorn and abuse from commoners, but his extraordinary intellectual gifts eventually win him a future with a powerful, elite group called the Gentlemen. Wild Boy has been featured in a freak show for three years, having willingly left his deplorable orphanage/workhouse at age 8. The cockney patterns that litter his speech belie powers of observation and deduction that rival those of Sherlock Holmes; not surprisingly, the story's setting is the smoke-shrouded, industrial London of 1841. When Wild Boy is about to be hanged by the unseemly circus crew for a murder he did not commit, teen acrobat Clarissa helps him escape. Together, they follow clues through sewers and back alleys, learning about an extraordinary electrical device linked to the murder: "The machine what changes you." At one point, Wild Boy considers using the machine to de-freak himself, but far more narration is devoted to action-packed episodes than to self-reflection. Amusing accounts of his reasoning skills contrast with depictions of violence, gore and depravity. This semihistorical novel is long on steampunk imagery--"the metal brain trembled and buzzed"--and short on characterization. Classism lurks beneath the surface of this fantastical adventure story that misses a good many opportunities to plumb the depths. (Adventure. 9-14)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

After eight grueling years in a London workhouse, an extremely hairy orphan is taken by "Carnival King" Augustus T. Finch, dubbed Wild Boy, and advertised as "the missing link between man and bear!" The year is 1841, and the traveling circus subjects 11-year-old Wild Boy to cruelty, prejudice, and abuse, but also sharpens his observation skills: "It was just what came from years of being locked up with nothing to do but watch the world and dream that he was someone else." When a doctor and professor are found dead nearby, Wild Boy and a fellow circus performer and amateur thief, Clarissa, turn into suspects on the run, with an ominous stolen note in hand about a futuristic machine designed for ethically dubious purposes. Elements of classic detective stories unfold against a magnetic vintage carnival backdrop, and the narrative maintains levity despite Wild Boy's maltreatment. British author/editor Jones delivers a message about true friendship through Clarissa who learns to love Wild Boy-not as a spectacle, but as an individual whose struggles have contributed to his substance and complexity. Ages 10-up. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency. (Sept.)