THE WOLFLING

by Sterling North ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 5, 1969

All stops out in this harmonium staging of a boy-and-animal theme set in the Wisconsin farm country of the 1870's, in which the second banana is a wolf/dog. There's a traditional, ritually predictable cast: the boy Robbie who fairly rattles with true grit; his stern, honest, hard-working farmer-father, Pa; ditto Ma with the ladylike plus of dreaming of an organ in the parlor; a New England bred spinster schoolteacher who hammers home the verities of Ideals and Intellect; a seedy professor/naturalist, rich in lore if not in lucre; a young girl with braids and empathy; a mean kid who clubs animals, steals traps and beats horses. Of course there's a dance, house raisin' and manly talk about the Grange. The wolf, in all this blinding light, is but a mere shadow, a mere woof. Robbie trains the cub to behave like a dog, astounds the neighbors, works hard, wins a psychological victory against the mean kid in a horse race and sets his sights towards college. As for the wolfling--dress the animal in a plaid raincoat and you could take him anywhere on Fifth Avenue. This is the 1969 winner of the Dutton Animal Book Award, and another sampler for North's enormous audience.

Pub Date: Aug. 5, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION