The Ways of the Wolf
Publisher: Wren & Rook
A big, stunning hardback that pays tribute to a misunderstood animal: the wolf. As Smriti Prasadam-Halls writes at the beginning: 'Sensitive or savage? Beautiful or bloodthirsty? You decide...'
To help you understand the wolf better, the book delves into folklore and other fascinating facts. Did you know that the male and female pair for life? That a wolf, on average, travels for ten hours a day?
Smriti Prasadam-Halls provides a wealth of detail that will make for a good family discussion: is the wolf friend or foe? There's a nice conservation theme in the book too: that the wolf is just looking to survive, like other animals – and just like us.
The illustrations are completely bewitching and very clever. Jonathan Woodward uses papercut collage artwork to give the pictures a sense of layering, so the scenes almost seem 3D. You feel you could take hold of the trees on the page and shake the snow from out of them.
Printed on uncoated wood paper, there is a really luxurious sense to it all and the book would make a brilliant present for anyone curious in animals, nature and just non-fiction more generally.
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Nature non-fiction booklist (older children)
Non-fiction books about nature are great for older children, from engaging reluctant readers to inspiring budding environmentalists.