Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: wild

  • A Way with Wild Things

    A Way with Wild Things

     Always, it is a fine thing to remember that we have different likes and dislikes. To be quiet, shy, love outdoor life and bugs is a fine way to be. To accept this in others and enhance their sense of belonging means a happy and peaceful life for all.

    This is very much the message in this colourful, softback picture book, A Way with Wild Things. Amid the double page spread, showing a garden, we meet Poppy. She loves bugs. She enjoys watching ants marching by and watching a spider weave its magic web.

    When it comes to mixing with others Poppy likes to blend into the background. Inside the house she likes to meld into the furnishings. It is not until Grandma Phyllis’s one hundredth birthday party in the garden, that Poppy ever feels at home and special. It all has to do with a dragonfly, and Grandma Phyllis, acknowledging that “Poppy’s got a way with wild things,”

    Sometimes it just takes the smallest recognition from others to engender confidence in a child. A Way with Wild Things is a lovely story and message for children. The illustrations are bright and simple, with many details. The text is large and well-spaced, with varying sizes of words. This is a delightful look at those who love the outdoors, and a happy read.

  • Wild is the Wind

    Wild is the Wind

    Wind is something that is just a part of everyday life, except when it is not; when it became fierce, rough, tumbling its way across the earth, causing damage and harm to the small birds and creatures of the earth.

    Award winning Author Grahame Baker- Smith takes the journey of a small swift and follows its flight journey the healing hands of Cassie in Africa, as it gets ready to take flight with the rest of flock to the summer fields and pastures of the world.

    The swift waits, as do the others, for the perfect time to take to the sky to begin their journey. As the land warms, the seed pods burst and the wind begins to wake, the tiny bird joins the flock to follow the pathway across the skies, a pathway that goes far, far back in history.

    Not once do these tiny birds break their flight as they soar with wings outstretched on the currents of the wind, over desserts, oceans and mountains to finally, after three months come to a place far, far away from Cassie and her dessert country.

    Kun has been waiting for the arrival of the swifts as it means the summer is almost here once again. The swifts lay their eggs hidden away in their ancient nesting spots. The babies hatch, grow big and strong and when the wind begins to call, they are ready to follow the ancient flight pathway once again to summer.

    Deep, rich, sweeping illustrations combine with text that not only follows the flight to the swift, but tells much of the dessert country, the wild winds that form the majesty of the storms at sea and across the lands, and the changing warmth that tells of the seasons changing and the beginning once again, of a timeless journey for the swifts as they return to the summer in Cassie’s lands.

    Graham Baker Smith in Wild Is The Wind, gently offers a story wrapped up in a non-fiction basis that is both entertaining and educational as he has captured in word and picture the extraordinary flight of such tiny birds to reach their nesting place on the far side of the earth, only to return year after years following an ageless, timeless breading cycle

    Wild is the Wind could also make a worthy vehicle for the introduction and discussion of Climate Change and Environmental Management in a gentle and informative manner for younger children.

  • Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo

    Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo

    Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo is a whimsical tale about a little boy and his sister who thought it would be better than wonderful to have their own private zoo; to them it would be a dream come true and when it did, well, this is what happened.

    Noah Wild and his sister Hatty live with the Aunt Smiley, while their parents are away climbing mountains, doing what they do best to earn a living to support their family. They also have an Uncle called uncle Loafy, who also loved to smile a lot and made the best loaves of bread they have ever tasted. He also has a false leg made of cork.

    Now, as it turns out, Uncle Loafy owned a zoo, because one day he met a man  who no longer wanted the Zoo, because he was going to live in Australia, so gave it to Uncle Loafy, who while he loved animals did not like to see them in captivity. His friend who had been looking after the animals while Uncle Loafy was at sea, wanted to retire and so the problem was how best to go about returning the animals to the places they originated from, in the easiest possible manner.

    Noah, Hatty, Aunt Smiley, Uncle Loafy and a troublesome monkey, as well as the animals set sail on a round the world adventure to take the animals back to their home countries. Old fashioned in the best sense of the words, Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo is a rollicking good yarn, simply presented, ideal for the young reader who enjoys a jolly good story from a master storyteller.

    Hard covered with a wraparound dust jacket, as all good books should have, with lovely illustrations from Nicola Kinnear, Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo has been perfectly timed for Christmas giving.

  • The Wild Way Home

    The Wild Way Home

    Sophie Kirtley has written her debut novel for children, The Wild Way Home cleverly intertwining present-day life with the Stone Age to present a challenging, absorbing, adventure. Her style is immediate and in the present tense. The reader feels as if the happenings are now and he or she is involved.

    As a part of a close and loving family, Charlie is about to have his eleventh birthday, while his mother is due to have a second child. Father is caring for the family as Mother has been unwell. The family live next to a forest where Charlie and his best friends play happily, hiding from each other, climbing trees, and exploring. Charlie is a collector and finds things in the forest from earlier times. On this day he finds a deer tooth, with markings.

    When the boy returns home, he finds his Mother has gone to hospital and the baby has been born. His father collects him and takes him to see his Mother and his new baby brother. Charlie is ecstatic to meet Dara and is amazed at his tiny size. It is then that the doctor informs them that Dara has a faulty heart and will need surgery.

    Charlie is overwhelmed and runs away to the forest where he soon finds himself back in the Stone Age. There has been a time slip and here the adventure really begins.

    A boy of a similar age, Hartboy, has fallen into a stream and is unconscious. Charlie drags him to the edge of the water, and together they face survival in a hostile forest. Wolves, bears and other wild creatures threaten the boys, but through cunning and support they manage to find a safe haven.

    The Wild Way Home is a gripping adventure as the reader is not sure how Charlie can return to his own world. We also wonder how he can find the courage to love and support his baby brother through the risky times ahead.