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Wolf Books
Books about wolves and wolf pups.
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The Wolf and the Dove
When the Normans invade and sweep across Saxon England in 1066, lovely Aislinn of Darkenwald watches her father murdered outside her home. Wulfgar, the Iron Wolf of Normandy, arrives to rule Darkenwald, and one look at Aislinn leads him to claim her as his own. She hates the Norman conquering forces, but Wulfgar awakens a consuming passion in her that she can't deny. As she struggles with her growing love for Wulfgar, she does what she can to aid her conquered people and her bereaved mother. But a jealous lord conspires with Wulfgar's spoiled half-sister and Aislinn's very life is threatened before Wulfgar can admit that the woman he conquered has in truth, conquered his heart. This beloved historical romance deserves a special place on the shelves of millions of romance readers and shouldn't be missed.
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The Wolf Almanac
Busch, a longtime student of wolves, gathers bits and pieces of lore, lots of biological facts and factoids, and a great deal of expert testimony on the behavior of our lupine friends. You'll learn from his pages that, given their druthers, wolves would sooner eat moose, buffalo, and deer than just about anything else; that wolves can travel 125 miles in a single day; and, sadly, that in Canada, at least as of 1995, the wolf is the only animal hunted year-round with no bag limits and no license requirements. This well-researched potpourri is must-have for fans of Canis lupus.
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Nutik, the Wolf Pup
When a little Eskimo boy named Amaroq is given a sickly wolf pup to nurse back to health, his sister Julie warns him, "Don't fall in love, Amaroq, or your heart will break when the wolves come and take him away." But it's too late. One look in the pup's golden eyes and Amaroq is smitten. Soon enough, Nutik the wolf has grown fat and well, and he and Amaroq are never apart. When the wolf pack comes back to reclaim their cub, Amaroq must be strong enough to let him go. Now can the two friends be strong enough to remain apart? Do some of these names sound familiar? They should. First told in the novel, Julie's Wolf Pack, this adventure is a young reader's picture-book introduction to Jean Craighead George's classic trilogy for older children, The Epic Adventures of Julie and Her Wolves, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves. George crafts an exquisite story for a new generation of readers sprung from those who grew up with many of her more than 80 outstanding children's books. Acclaimed illustrator Ted Rand traveled to the Arctic tundra to research the pictures for this book; the result is splendidly evocative of the beauty and desolation of Alaska, both in daylight (which lasts for three months in the summer) and at night. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter
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The Silver Wolf
Regeane is a fatherless royal relation who happens to be a werewolf. Her guardian, Gundabald, and his venal son Hugo plan to recoup their fortunes by marrying Regeane to a wealthy bridegroom, even though she might inadvertently make him into a bedtime snack. Gundabald forces her into apparent compliance by threatening to reveal her secret to the Church, which would burn her at the stake. As the bridegroom, Maeniel, journeys to Rome to claim her, Regeane discovers allies in her quest to defeat Gundabald's machinations, including some very strong, funny, and levelheaded women. Unfortunately for Regeane, she also has more powerful enemies than Gundabald. Alice Borchardt brings 8th-century Rome vividly to life. Her language is earthy and sensuously descriptive: "The wolf visited Regeane's eyes and ears. The girl staggered slightly with the shock. The light in the square became intense. Smells an overwhelming experience: wet stone, damp air, musty clothing, perspirations shading from ancient sticky filth to fresh acrid adrenal alarm." Borchardt is Anne Rice's sister, but she writes a very different sort of tale. Ghosts, the dead, and supernatural forces are here, but so is laugh-out-loud humor and a happy ending. --Nona Vero
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The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species
Since the dawn of history, no other living thing (save, possibly, the snake) has been as reviled by humankind as the wolf. Still, wolves and people have been drawn to each other since the beginning. Canis lupus bounds through our folklore, howls in our dreams, and--occasionally--competes with us on the hunt. As one zoologist imagines it: "Through the cold of winter the wolf made music in the mysterious darkness and sometimes, in curiosity, sat just beyond the dwindling circle of firelight and watched." The curiosity was mutual; this is the feared animal, ironically, that gave rise to man's best friend. Yet only recently has science begun to understand these complex social mammals. Enter biologist L. David Mech. Years of research during the 1960s in Michigan's Isle Royale National Park provided Mech with a level of firsthand knowledge shared by few in the field. In 1970 he compiled his findings (updated in 1980) into the preeminent document of its kind. Thomas McNamee, author of The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone, calls the book the "best single source of information on wolf biology," and refers to its author as "the undisputed king of wolf research." When government officials in the early 1990s decided to embark on an ambitious project to reintroduce wolves into their former range of Yellowstone National Park, they called on Mech's expertise. All this is to say that, if you want to learn about wolves, you cannot ignore this seminal work or its author. Chapters cover wolf evolution, range, and physiology; society and pack behavior; reproduction; hunting and predator-prey relationships; and the species' uncertain future. Like any self-respecting scientist, Mech includes all the hard data, but he presents his work in an engaging manner that is accessible to a broader audience, drawing heavily on anecdotes and personal experience. "Many people strongly dislike the wolf," Mech writes, "others rush to its defense. But no one denies that the animal is strong, powerful, intelligent, keen, and dynamic." While persecution by man has severely restricted its current status, the tide is turning, thanks to education and conservation efforts. After all, a night without a howl echoing somewhere across the landscape would surely be a colder, less alive night. --Langdon Cook
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