The Wolf by Steven Herrick

Wolf? Wolf? Did somebody say wolf? I love stories about my canine relatives, although the last story about a dog had him getting his scrotum bit. But I reserve hope that this one will come out good in the end as far as the wolf is concerned. This free verse book was so creatively called, The Wolf, and was written by Steven Herrick. This story begins with two teenagers who live very separate home lives but are drawn together by the story of a mysterious wolf who supposedly lives in the area. Now, since the story takes place on the continent of Australia I know that there are no wolves there, -remember, "The dingo ate my baby!", thus leading to the mystery of the what the animal really is. The story is cleverly told in several different perspectives in what seemed to be short poems, but could be read more like chapters. I'm not so sure why the novel was written the way it was, but it made the words more interesting and meaningful. Even reluctant readers will enjoy.

The author decided to write each verse like this:

Milo: Thoughts
One person's thoughts could
be captured in a rare and
unique form.
Writing in this way seemed to make
the book go quicker and
since the collections were broken up
into parts,
it was tough to stop in the
middle of a section
and we wanted to keep reading farther.
As I said before,
the story was written from the different
perspectives of the characters in
the novel.

Lucy and Jake are the two teenagers who go on a journey to find this wolf which Jake's father tells stories about and Lucy's father wants to kill for eating his sheep. Lucy leaves to escape from her father's verbal and emotional abuse and Jake leaves to prove his father wrong that it is not a wolf but merely a wild dog. Well as they venture out, tragedy happens and Lucy and Jake are forced to stay overnight in a cave - hmmmm, two teenage kids in a cave overnight, I wonder what's going to happen . Kiss, kiss, kissy, kiss, kiss. The adventure turns dangerous when the howls of the creature force one of them to leave the cave and find help.
All in all, this so far has been the best book my master has read to me out of our high school pile. Even better than the one with all the dirty words and sex. So with that that being said, I give this book a biscuit rating of:

5 biscuits. This book was extremely well written and was able to hold the reader's attention to the very end. A love story with just enough humor and adventure to satisfy even the pickiest of readers. I think that high school students will enjoy this book because of the story, but also the unique writing style adds to the novel's mystique. The author is able to identify with the feelings and thoughts of many of todays young adults. This is a book which I put my Paw of Approval on.
This is Milo, wagging off for now, but I'll be back soon with another review. So until next time I leave you with a big fat lick across the face. SLURP!