Story of a wolf, based on the life of a real wolf (OR-7) studied from a pack in Yellowstone. You can even see a map of where he went. Of course a lot of this is made up, showing things surmised from the wolf’s perspective, but the actual places he traveled is factual. Called Wander in this story, the young wolf is growing up in his natal pack, finding his place among his littermates, learning skills, then helping with the next year’s new pups. Aspiring to be a leader someday and lead his own pack. Then calamity strikes, when a rival pack moves into their territory and scatters them. Wander is now alone, frightened and having to fend for himself. He misses his packmates, can’t bring down large prey solo, and vacilitates for quite a while between wanting to run away/move on to new/safe territory, and feeling compelled to stay and find his missing packmates, reunite with some of his family. He does eventually encounter a brother, but they can’t manage to stay together. Wander is forced to move on, and travels a thousand miles through the Pacific Northwest. He traverses strange lands, with different ecosystems he’s not used to, encountering animals that are new to him (he can’t run fast enough to catch a pronghorn!) the mysteries and dangers of man-things (barbed wire, paved roads and vehicles), and then runs into humans themselves- which confuse and frighten him. He’s baffled at meeting a domestic dog, whose company he craves because it seems so much like a wolf, but whose closeness to the human things unnerves him. For a while he forms a partnership with a raven. Gets injured by an elk and struggles to recover. Faces thirst in dry lands, and the terror of fire driven by the wind. After a long, tiresome and dangerous journey, he finally comes to a land that feels more like home- mountainsides with cooling trees and thickets with deer, clearings with elk. Meets another young lone wolf, and at long last is able to form his own pack.
Nice story, especially how realistically it reflected the life of a wolf in the wild. At the back are several pages telling about the wolves, the other wildlife they share habitats with, the studies that follow the original OR-7. I liked that while the wolves talked to each other, the never discussed things that wouldn’t concern a wolf, and couldn’t converse in the same way with other animals (Wander would guess at what the raven’s gestures meant, but the sounds were foreign). Have to admit I was disappointed not to see a conclusion to the encounter between one of his siblings and a porcupine! He also has interactions with wild horses and cougars, tries catching fish after watching a bear do so, and many other events. Actually quite a lot happens in this relatively short book. What surprised me was- it felt too easy. The simple language and present tense narrative had me bored. Normally I’d be annoyed at this and would have set the book aside, but my reaction was the opposite- I was happy to find myself bored with this book. Maybe that means I’m ready for harder reading material! I did request from the library a few others written by this author (there’s another wolf story, one about a wild horse, and another about an orca). I’m curious if it’s just the style here, or the comprehension level that I’m responding to.
One Response
I’m glad you read (and were bored!) by this one. I’m not sure I ever got around to reading anything else by this author, so if you do I’ll be interested to hear what you think.