Wilding Summary
Jane Yolen

Wilding Summary

The events in "Wilding" (collected in Twelve Impossible Things before Breakfast) take place in a future era, a time when wolves and tigers are extinct, when green skin is fashionable, and when the science of genetics has developed a process by which people can be changed into animals for a couple of hours. Changing into animals is called "wilding" and has been legalized in New York City, so long as it is done in Central Park, which has been walled off from the rest of the city. Wilding is dangerous, even when participants follow safety precautions, but Zena regards the precautions with contempt, and she goes wilding unprotected in Central Park, where murders have been reported. Can the human side of Zena protect the animal she becomes?

(read more from the Short Guide)