A Wolf Called Wander - book review

 Aaaaaand, surprise surprise, here's another book review! I have, as previously informed you, a lot of new books and I need to review them all. This one took a little searching in the bookstore, but I immediately fell in love with the cover. As I explained to my mother on the car ride home, usually the best books make more money, and with that money the author can make stellar covers, and that's how you know a book is good. A Wolf Called Wander delivers on all those things. (It also took me a while to find an image of my edition).

                                               

                                                                 

A Wolf Called Wander is the story of a wild wolf named Swift. (He renames himself Wander later in the story). He has two brothers and two sisters. His mother is the alpha female of the pack, his father the alpha male. He hunts elk with his pack and howls up at the moon with them at night. Awesome life, right?

Not so much. Another pack attacks, and Swift gets lost from his one in the fight. He runs through woods, on roads, through deserts, and through mountains, all to get home again. 

A Wolf Called Wander is explained in a simple present tense through Swift's point of view. It's all told in a wolf's words. Instead of blood, he calls it red. Instead of road, it's called black river. This makes for a story that feels fresh. The book is a celebration of the natural world, and it feels so good to read it. Like you are running through a forest with endless strength.

Usually, in stories told from an animal's point of view, especially when it isn't fantasy, it's hard to allow the reader to connect with the main character. Black Beauty made me feel like a spectator, not someone actually in the story. Same with A Dog's Life. Same with Ellie's Story. But I felt everything on Swift's behalf. I felt his joy when he fell his first elk, his pain when he broke his shoulder, his sadness when he longed for the company of other wolves. And I wasn't even trying to feel empathy for him. It just happened.

Swift - or should I say, Wander - really grows over the course of the book. At the beginning, he's a little wolf cub being told not to hunt porcupines or skunks. At the end, he is a wolf with - oh, I'd better not spoil!

More book reviews coming soon!