Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
Third Person (Limited Omniscient)
We spend the bulk of The Wild Children firmly planted inside Alex's brain. Although the book jumps outside that cozy space a few times throughout the novel, the story is defined by Alex's perspective.
Basically, we feel everything that Alex feels. We feel his terror when he wakes up to discover his entire family missing. We feel his confusion when he arrives in Moscow only to discover that his uncle has been arrested. And we feel his hope when he joins Peter's group and realizes that he now has friends who care about him. Essentially, we witness all of these events through Alex's eyes.
There are a handful of exceptions to this, however. For example, there are a few moments when the narrator essentially zooms out, connecting Alex's experiences to those of other Russian youth. The perspective also shifts into Peter's head when he kills the orphanage director who murdered Miska, although that's mostly just because Alex isn't around to witness the event. While it's worth pointing out these exceptions to the rule, we still believe that The Wild Children is defined by Alex's distinct perspective. But what do you think?