02041cam a2200337 4500 1171515703 TxAuBib 20240314120000.0 220725s2021||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2022286431 9780358468288 hardcover 0358468280 hardcover (OCoLC)1291406132 TxAuBib Lorentz, Dayna, author. Wayward creatures / Dayna Lorentz. First edition. New York : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2021] ©2021. 298 pages ; 22 cm. Twelve-year-old Gabe doesn't know where he belongs anymore. His family is caught up in their own lives and his soccer-star friends barely have time for him. In a desperate plea for attention, Gabe sets off fireworks in the woods near his house and causes a small forest fire. In the chaos of the destruction, a coyote named Rill--tired of her family and longing for adventure--finds herself far from home. Already on animal control's watch for snapping at a child, Rill crawls into a cave, where she nurses her wounds alone. Gabe's and Rill's paths cross when Gabe is tasked with cleaning up the forest through the court's restorative justice program. The damage to the land and both their lives is beyond what the two can imagine. But together, they discover that sometimes it only takes one friend to find the place where you belong. -- From dust jacket. 20240314. Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction Winner, 2023. Human-animal relationships Juvenile fiction. Coyote Juvenile fiction. Friendship Juvenile fiction. Forest fires Juvenile fiction. Animal behavior Juvenile fiction. Community service (Punishment) Juvenile fiction. Golden Sower Nominee 2024-2025 Honeybee.