At an age when most girls worry about hiding zits, 11-year-old Linnet McKenzie has much bigger concerns. She's wondering how she'll be able to hide the wings that have started to grow on her body.

After her initial shock at discovering her wings, Linnet focuses on keeping them a secret, despite how itchy they are all day at school, and how big they're growing when she stretches them out.  

Luckily for Linnet, her mother understands: she had wings once too.  Linnet learns early on the awful reason her mother no longer has them, and why she cries when she sees Linnet's wings. How can Linnet survive in this world with her enormous wings? Her own mother doesn't think it's possible.  

This is a story about fitting in and finding your way when you feel all alone. Never very popular, Linnet now fears that there is no one else like her in the whole world. Even without wings, it's possible to sometimes feel alienated and empathize with Linnet. Although she thinks her wings are beautiful, they've caused her nothing but trouble. They don't work for flying.  hey itch and ache. Finally, they even make Linnet's mother abandon her when she needs her most.  

Then Linnet discovers that there may be more girls like her. Should she say goodbye to the outside world just to live in peace with her wings, and others who understand her situation?  Can she?  

By the second chapter of this novel, you forget that it isn't possible for a girl to grow wings. Instead you feel Linnet's worries and fears along with her. It seems that first- time author Laurel Winter has mastered the genre of "Magical realism," a type of fiction where the most magical impossibilities are written about so casually that they seem real. After reading her vivid descriptions of the wings, I couldn't help thinking I would love to have some!  

Starting with its beautiful cover and lasting well beyond its last page, GROWING WINGS is a wonderful story of enchantment that could very well be true.  With a debut novel this great, I'll be looking for Laurel Winter's next book. For anyone who has ever dreamed of flying, this novel makes it seem like with enough practice (and wings), it's possible.

   --- Reviewed by Kate Torpie