WOLF WILDER
by KATHERINE RUNDELL
Reviewed by Mrs. B 🐝

STAR RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

RECOMMENDED YEAR GROUP: 5/6

INTERESTS: adventures, Russia, Russian history, wolves, tsars

THEMES: re-wilding animals, friendship, Russian hardship, Russian landscapes

IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU’LL LOVE:
Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis
The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Freaks by Kieran Larwood
The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding (and other Cat Royal books)

MY THOUGHTS:

This book is set in deepest, darkest Russia about 100 years ago when life was very difficult. Feodora (Feo) is a young girl who lives with her mother in the middle of nowhere and they re-wild wolves after they have been thrown out of their ‘rich’ houses.
The story is gripping from the start and the language used is fantastic: the description of the landscapes is brilliant. The story is fast-paced and exciting. There are some gruesome moments, which are quite graphic, but nothing too bad.

I can’t wait to use this for guided reading (the Literacy Shed Plus has a set of excellent questions).

I’m a fairly slow reader, but I read this book in a couple of days as I couldn’t put it down.
I can think of quite a few writing links: poetry, based on snow; narrative – rewrite part of the story from another characters point of view; research Russian history; research the re-wilding of animals; Russian geography; letters/telegrams to/from characters; write an extra chapter.

I highly recommend this book. 📚🙂