The WOLF - Hardcover

Barbalet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0027118401 ISBN 13: 9780027118407

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1992

Synopsis

The haunting howl of a wolf keeps Tal and his family captive in their own house at night, until Tal decides to face his fears head on.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-5-- Tal awakens to his brother's terrified screams when sounds come from outside. ``The howling went on and on. He knew it was the wolf coming closer. It was worse than he could have imagined.'' And so the unseen wolf in this contemporary Australian moral tale takes on surreal proportions not seen in children's books since Van Allsburg's Jumanji (Houghton, 1981). Heard nightly, the wolf changes the texture of the family's life. They grow tense, board windows, bolt doors. They learn of others who lived in similar fear for a year. Then, Tal's mother admits to looking at the wolf; one night Tal lets him in. At last, the family is free. The lesson is clear: confront fears and they dissolve. However, the moral is subtly interwoven and never intrudes. With finely honed prose, Barbalet creates a web of suspense, which Tanner completes with dark, realistic illustrations in pencil, watercolor, and gouache. In each of these, handsomely set on ivory pages, the perspective changes, sustaining the mood. Elegant accents spill out of the frames, lending fluidity. Alternating double-page spreads are decorated with leaves and branches that reflect the progression of the year of the wolf. The endpapers foreshadow and summarize the outcome. All told, this is a treasure to be read again and again. --Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Library System, Worcester, MA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Barbalet's first children's book is a contemporary gothic parable about confronting fear. Her brisk text describes the mounting terror of three children and their mother whose tranquil life is shattered when a wolf begins to howl outside their house. As it draws closer, the family members become virtual prisoners in their home, barricading themselves inside in an attempt to stave off the ever-present menace. "You can't make it go away," the mother tells Tal, her oldest child; gradually the boy marshals the courage to unbar the door and admit the wolf. Barbalet doesn't soft-pedal any aspects of the family's increasing enslavement to fear: at one point Tal wonders whether he should sacrifice his cat--or even himself--to appease the creature. While older readers may grasp the deeper lesson about mastering one's own terrors, some children may find the tale confusing and even alarming. Tanner's ( Drac and the Gremlin ) realistic illustrations, with graphic shifts in perspective, are appropriately dark and moonlit--many are gripping portraits in which the characters' plight is all too real. Though this unusual book may not be for all tastes, its stark drama makes a vivid impression. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0027118401
• ISBN 13: 9780027118407
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32