Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Girl rescues lost wolf pup in wordless tale of compassion.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
A girl in a red hooded jacket starts walking home from school as it starts to snow, hears a wolf pack, and notices a WOLF IN THE SNOW, a pup who's fallen behind and gotten lost. She picks it up and trudges through the snowstorm to bring it to the pack. Eventually pup and mother are reunited, but by then the girl is lost and so exhausted she collapses into a ball. The wolves surround her and howl to alert the girl's dog and parents, who've been tracking her. So she, too, is rescued and reunited with her mom. The last scene shows the girl and her family back home, warm and safe.
Is It Any Good?
This nearly wordless book creates a captivating landscape of peril and compassion starring a kind, brave little girl undaunted by nature and the animal world. Author-illustrator Matthew Cordell's pen-and-ink with watercolor illustrations in Wolf in the Snow draw you in and make you care about the characters, showing the changing emotions on the girl's face, sometimes with only her eyes showing between her jacket hood and the scarf around her neck. The only words are wolf sounds: the whine of the pup and the growls and howls of wolves in the pack.
Very young readers will easily understand the danger and the relief as both human and animal are lost and separated from their mothers and then reunited with them, thanks to another's kindness.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the little girl rescues the wolf pup in Wolf in the Snow. Have you ever rescued an animal or bird that was lost or hurt? What happened in the end?
How does the author-artist show in the art that it's cold and stormy? Try drawing a snowstorm yourself.
What do you think of telling a story without words? Try telling a story just in pictures.
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Matthew Cordell
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Friendship , STEM , Animals ( Wild Animals )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Feiwel & Friends
- Publication date : February 1, 2018
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 2 - 6
- Number of pages : 48
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Award : Caldecott Medal and Honors
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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