Lupé: A Wolf Pup's First Year. (Wild Beginnings, 2). Rebecca L. Grambo. Photographs by Daniel J. Cox. North Vancouver, BC: Walrus Books/Whitecap Books, 2004. 48 pp., pbk., $14.95. ISBN 1-55285-611-9. Subject Heading: Wolves-Infancy-Juvenile literature. Preschool-grade 3 / Ages 4-8. Review by Ming Wong. *** /4

excerpt:

That's why they brought wolves back here. Your grandparents came from the north, from Canada. People caught them and then let them go down here so that this place would have wolves again.

Snow began falling, and Lupe looked around to see what everyone was doing. The pups had now grown so much that they were nearly as large as their parents. They hunted small animals like rabbits by themselves, but they were still mainly watching the elk hunts, trying to learn the right things to do. In another month or so, they would be hunting with the pack.

Lupé: A Wolf Pup's First Year, the second book in the "Wild Beginnings"series, educates young readers about how a wolf pup grows up and learns about its environment. The story is set in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park where Aspen, the female wolf, prepares for her delivery of her three pups, Lupe, Tarn, and Lobo. Through the eyes of Lupe, readers learn about the reintroduction of wolves in the Yellowstone National Park, discover the importance of the pack, and know how wolves hunt for food for survival, begin to understand how pups play and communicate with each other through howling and scents.

     Rebecca Grambo, a writer and a wildlife photographer, has produced a number of acclaimed books both for children and adults including The Nature of Foxes, Weird Science, and Bear: A Celebration of Power and Glory. With her fondness for animals and nature, Grambo provides young readers an insight to the nature and wildlife of Yellowstone National Park. She incorporates these elements of nature and animals by naming the wolves in her book, Lupé. For instance, Lupe is a scientific name for wolf, Lobo means wolf in Spanish, Aspen is a tree that grows in the Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains, Teton refers to a mountain range south of Yellowstone, Sage is a plant that grows in western North America, Sinter is a deposit of silica, and Lily is named for the glacier lilies that grow in the park. Young readers also get to learn about forest restoration, mudpots and geysers, and much more.

     Throughout the book, there are numerous colored photographs, an index, three pages of fast facts, and two references to web sites on wolves and the Yellowstone National Park.

Recommended.

A transplanted Canadian, Ming Wong is a resource center manager for a nonprofit organization in D.C.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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