Sunday, August 12, 2012

Top 10 books with wolves

Emma Barnes was born and raised in Edinburgh. At one time she lived in a house that a lot of people thought was the childhood home of author Robert Louis Stevenson – they used to come and take pictures of it – only it wasn’t.

Her books for children include Wolfie, the exciting tale of one girl and her wolf, How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good, and Jessica Haggerthwaite: Witch Dispatcher.

For the Guardian, she named her ten top books with wolves, including:
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff

Drem is a Bronze Age boy with a withered arm. In his tribe, initiation into manhood requires the slaying of a wolf. Drem trains with a spear, one-handed, but when the time comes his wolf escapes, and Drem is sent into exile with the "half-people". Only as winter falls, and the wolves close in on the lambing pens, does Dream get another chance. Although the wolves are savage predators in this book, they are propelled by hunger, just like the men that hunt them. And one of Drem's closest friendships is with Whitethroat – his wolf-sired hound.
Read about another entry on the list.

Also see John Mullan's list of ten of the best wolves in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue