The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Sutherland, Tui, Wings of Fire Book 13; The Poison Jungle. Scholastic Press, New York, NY, 2019. Kindle AZW file.

The Poison Jungle is set in Pantala, a continent inhabited by three tribes of dragons – the HiveWings, LeafWings, and SilkWings. Fifty years before the events of this novel, the three tribes were involved in a war that ended because the HiveWing queen, a dragon named Wasp, convinced the SilkWings that the Book of Clearsight already predicted the HiveWings would win the war. The SilkWings agreed to accept Wasp as their queen and have lived a subservient life among the HiveWings since then. The LeafWings refused to submit and have been hiding in the Poison Jungle since then.

Sundew is a LeafWing dragon who has leafspeak, a power that allows her to communicate and manipulate plants. She has grown up among a faction of the LeafWings intent on revenge to the point that they are no longer able to enjoy any aspect of their lives. Sundew has befriended a HiveWing named Cricket who is immune to mind control that Wasp has over almost every other HiveWing. Cricket believes the HiveWings would be a very different tribe if they could escape the mind control as well. Sundew has also befriended two SilkWings, Blue and Swordtail, and has discovered the SilkWings are not subservient cowards as she had been taught. Sundew is not able to fully put aside her desire for revenge but she has come to want to help the HiveWings escape Queen Wasp's control, seeing that as a step toward a peaceful resolution that can avoid an all-out war.

Sundew has always believed her tribe to be the innocent victims of that war but she discovers they were the reason Queen Wasp developed the ability to use mind control on the HiveWings. The LeafWings had initially planned to use a plant to control Queen Wasp's mind, but the plan backfired. Now, Sundew and her friends are seeking an antidote which leads them to an exiled LeafWing named Hawthorn. Hawthorn claims to have found the antidote. Sundew uses her leafspeak power to grow more of the plants, only to discover she is growing more of the “breath of evil” plant. She also discovers Hawthorn has been taken over by an ancient entity she calls "othermind," who is intent on reclaiming Pantala from the dragons.

Sundew winds up with a relatively small group of dragons who have not fallen victim to the effects of the plant, and feel they have no choice but to flee Pantala. Armed with a map that shows the way across the ocean to Pyrrhia, they set out with the hope of regrouping, gaining some allies, and forming a plan to retake Pantala from othermind.