Wolf Pack of the Winisk River- Paul Brown
Wolf Pack of the Winisk River is a most unusual book on several counts. It is written in free verse style and it is written from the viewpoint of a wolf pack. It moves along at a nice pace and integrates many facts about wolf behaviour into the narrative. Wolf is alone after the death of his mate and pups and he himself becomes the enemy of other packs. When he is able to defeat two males from such a pack, he is able to unite with the female and her two pups. We follow their journey as they follow their prey; in particular, the caribou herds. We become aware of their limited interaction with humans and all the animals that cross their paths. We become very much aware of the daily struggle they face just for survival and that it is never ending. We come to admire their courage, tenacity and patience as they eke out an existence. For those young people that enjoy animal stories, this will have some appeal. I hope they don’t set it aside after noting the free verse format, as for many that will be somewhat unfamiliar. This would be a fabulous read-aloud and might welll be integrated into an animal or environment study. I would recommend this for middle years and up.
CM Magazine has written a fine review on this. Check it our here.
Middle Years, Realistic Fiction, YA | Comments (3)3 Responses to “Wolf Pack of the Winisk River- Paul Brown”
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I hope these show up on our Willow lists. i love free verse novels and all the YAs that I have introduced to them also really like the format. I haven’t read this book yet but really look forward to it.
Hi Jane, and Florence – we will definitely submit “Wolf Pack of the Winisk River” to the 2010 Willow committee. I was thinking Snow, rather than Diamond – would you agree? So glad this incredibly original and powerful novel is getting such great reviews!
Florence, I’ll bring my copy to the meeting today so you can read it. Stephanie, I agree that it will be best suited for the Snow group. The Quill and Quire review on this novel was not quite as complimentary, but I think this is a strong and original story.