Parents' Guide to In the Wild Light

IN THE WILD LIGHT begins in Sawyer, Tennessee, a small town near the Great Smoky Mountains. Its remoteness hasn't saved it from drug dealers and an opioid crisis, something Cash Pruitt and Delaney Doyle know way too much about. Cash's mother has died from an overdose, and Delaney's mother is losing her battle with addiction. It's the summer before their junior year, and Cash is mowing lawns while Delaney works at the Dairy Queen and deals with her newfound fame. A gifted science student, she discovered a fungus in a local cave that may be a new antibiotic. Her discovery has led to the offer of a scholarship from Middleford Academy, a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. But Delaney is terrified at the thought of going so far away alone and tells the school that she'll turn down the offer if they won't give a scholarship to Cash. Going to Middleford could be life changing for Cash, but he hesitates to leave Sawyer, as his much loved grandfather (Pawpaw) is terribly ill. Finally convinced by his grandfather that he can't turn down such a remarkable opportunity, Cash and Delaney set off for Connecticut on a Greyhound bus and arrive to find themselves in a world of kids arriving in luxury SUVs, girls in hijabs, and students from 21 countries. Thankfully, it's a world that welcomes them. Cash soon becomes best friends with Alan Pak, a Korean American scholarship student from Houston, and Delaney quickly bonds with her roommate, Viviani, who's a wealthy kid from Brazil. While Delaney settles in to the science department, Cash finds himself in a class from his worst nightmares: Intro to Poetry. Much to his surprise, he loves the class and finds a mentor in his teacher.