Powers, Timothy. The Boy Who Howled. Callum has been raised in a wolf family with a father who wants to eat him and a mother who thinks he tastes nice and salty. When he gets a chance to reenter human society after his mother finds some clothing at t a camp sight, he gets some help from a wealthy woman and ends up at a school for gifted children-- but nobody notices he's not supposed to be there. The class is working on an endangered species project, and while Callum's human language is steadily improving, he still has a lot of misunderstandings. (Humans don't prove their superiority by stealing food to impress people!) A series of coincidences reveal some of his past, but also allow him to be reunited with his wolf family.
Strengths: This would be fun for grades 3-6. The writing is humorous, the story largely school based, and the relationships between Callum and his new friends, and Callum and his new family, are well-developed.
Weaknesses: For my students, anything involving wolves needs more blood, attacks, and action. This is slightly young, especially with the cartoon cover.
More wolfish books:
Di Toft's second Wolven book, Twilight Circus, comes out on November 1. LaFevers' Werewolf Rising is a good one for outdoor adventure.
Library Notes: Finished inventory, and when I finalized it, had 800+ lost books. Looking at the list, I realized that they weren't lost, just didn't scan properly. Grr. Ended up with 36 lost, including 8 that should be on the shelves but aren't, including a copy of Skeleton Key and (*SOB*) Here There Be Dragons. Still, this is a much smaller number than in years past. Down to 45 overdue books with three days of school left. Tomorrow is general cleaning, filing, tidying, and calling home for all the overdue books. Fun!
I'm the long term sub at my present school (started 8 weeks ago) and this is the first year for the library aide. Told her I would be happy if we ended up under 100 items unaccounted for in the inventory. Had the same problem with the scanner. Have had to go back to the shelves and search, happily, finding lots of books. We got down to 76 on Friday when a teacher showed up with a crate of books she just found "in her cabinet."
ReplyDeleteFeel like I'm leaving the library in a pretty good place for the librarian when she starts back next year.
I thought this book was really good. It's funny and I thought the characters were good, too.
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