Companion book to A Wolf Called Wander. This one is from the perspective of Warm (later his name is changed to Fire). I was really curious to see how incidents when they were pups compared to the other book- but I didn’t recognize any parts in particular, it was long ago enough that I read the other. Warm isn’t as fast or bold or aggressive as his siblings. His father says he is “the heart of the pack” and keeps reminding him that being the biggest or strongest does not always mean the best. There are other ways to be a good wolf. When their pack gets attacked by the other wolves, he’s a yearling and finds himself alone in the aftermath with the young pups from this year. The run far and hide, as the invaders have taken over their territory and still want to hunt them down. Warm struggles with his new responsibility- he’s never been a leader before, he doesn’t know how to teach the younger pups what they need to know, he doesn’t have adults around him to help bring down prey. How will they survive?
Warm finds out that together they can be strong and clever enough. He notices the particular strength of each pup, and encourages them to catch smaller prey while he tries to find deer (a bit easier to take down than an elk). They travel to a new area and try to learn the landscape and about new animals they encounter (never seen a bighorn sheep before). But their old troubles are not behind them- the rival pack is still searching for them, and Warm is dismayed to learn later on, that several of his siblings got absorbed into that pack. They look unhappy and harassed- the rivals’ leader has a harsh and stern leadership style. Force and power, and the wolves lower down the pecking order get less food. Warm is baffled by this- in his natal pack, everyone always shared, and worked together. They were led with firmness, but patience and understanding too. Warm teaches this style to the pups under his care by example, finding ways to deflect anger and turn tense situations into a game or learning moment. In the end, they have a big facedown with the rivals on the edge of Hell’s Canyon (the wolves live in Oregon) and Warm’s grown siblings have to make a choice- stay with the rivals, go their own way, or join Warm to make a proper pack again.
I liked this story best of the four so far. It was nice to read about a character who was unsure of himself, surrounded by bolder, pushy competitors, and yet made his quiet strength win through. And taught others how to live in the same quiet, strong way. It’s based on a real wolf from a Yellowstone pack named Wolf 8, who changed the style of leadership when he took over his pack (not killing rivals they fought with, but letting them flee and live in peace on the other side of the territory border, for example). I’m now interested in reading some nonfiction books about Wolf 8 myself.
Fire plays another big role in this story near the end, turning into a kind of deus-ex-machina helping the wolves escape their rivals. The back pages tell facts about the Oregon wilderness, other wildlife the wolves interact with in the story, the real Wolf 8, and the role of wildfire in the ecosystem. I learned different things from this book than I did from A Wolf Called Wander.
Borrowed from the public library.
