3. Woolvs in the Sitee

And now for something completely different...


Just in case you thought I was only going to be reviewing shiny, happy, whimsical children's books here...think again. (Did I sound appropriately convincing? If not, just wait 'til you see the cover.)

Ever read a post-apocalyptic picture book before? Yeah, me neither. The cover looks pretty scary, right? Though I'm not normally the type to watch a horror movie or read a Stephen King novel, I am always intrigued by books (and films, for that matter) that push the envelope. So I though...what the heck, let's give it a shot.


Margaret Wild's words and Anne Spudvilas' illustrations (2006) complement each other beautifully to create a haunting tale of a boy facing a world inhabited by 'woolvs' who 'spare no won'.


Though the words alone are ominous (and written in a particularly menacing font)...

They will kum for me and for you

and for yor bruthers and sisters,

yor muthers and fathers, yor arnts and unkils,

yor grandfathers and grandmuthers.

No won is spared.

...the illustrations add another creepy dimension. From the cover wraparound draped in red and black with scribbled text you immediately get the sense that this is no ordinary picturebook. Opening up to the endpages, again you have black with a slightly scary sketching of a wolf. The copyright and title pages pick back up with the darkened red color of the cover. Throughout the book, Spudvilas sticks with a dark palette, creating double page watercolor bleeds that evoke a sinister mood. Her pencil sketches also show movement and establish the characters. She always makes sure to hide in little hints of madness and fear in scribbled backgrounds so that you get a sense of the environment. The expressionist style is effecting in creating a world of chaos and fear, effectively giving the reader an emotional experience.

But all is not completely lost. The boy develops a friendship in the book and ends with much more courage than he began. He is ready to confront the 'woolvs' and wants us to 'joyn' him. (Even Spudvilas gives us some hope with her light hues on the final page.)

You might be thinking, Erin, this is a scary book and I don't want my child reading it. To that I would say, I agree with you...to a certain extent. Don't read this to your kindergartner. It's depth will be lost on him or her and it will just cause fear and/or sadness. BUT...DO read it to your fourth or fifth grader (or high schooler!). It is an amazing book to work on making inferences; there were so many times when I was wondering...what happened to his family? are the 'woolvs' in his head? why did the world fall apart? 

Though the tone is disturbing, there is no violence in the book and I think older children would enjoy speculating on the world in which this richly written and illustrated book is set. The dramatic pacing would be a great model for students to learn how to create mood in a story. The invented spelling of a boy who is so isolated in fear that he has stopped going to school might even have children appreciate the necessity of learning conventional spelling.

It is an intriguing story that wants us to 'lissen' to it. I've already read it multiple times and something about it pulls me back in again. I can't help but wonder if there are any 'woolvs' among us right now...