Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac
| Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A young boy, a wolf in a zoo - what's the connection? A magical, artistic, dreamy wisp of a novel that we can recommend, for one. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 112 | Date: April 2009 |
| Publisher: Walker | |
| ISBN: 978-1406322736 | |
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A wolf a long way from his home in the Alaskan wilderness strides around his cage in a zoo. With nothing better to do he sees a young boy stood stock still in the winter cold, staring at him. He paces, ignoring the lad, but he's there every hour he can - from first thing at morning, to last thing at night, even on days the zoo is shut. The wolf starts to stare back, with his one eye - the other locked shut due to hunters when they captured him. The boy, in sympathy, shuts one of his eyes, and there they stay, staring at each other, and learning about each other's back story.
It's an amazing opening to a short little book such as this - an artistic, magical link between human and animal in circumstances that demand an explanation. As a moody way to swing from this set-up to a second story - about the wolf's background, and a third for the boy's life, it's very unusual.
Having been drawn in by the short and curlies, the way we enter the back story might seem too jarring, too odd, but over that minor hurdle and we have a fairly wondrous novella. It's a very brief book - large print, several illustrations (none quite as fine as that superb cover), gaping chapter breaks - but there is a lot going on here. You'll notice I'm not going into the relevant back stories, as I do have to leave something back, but they're of a very pleasing quality, with a rounded finish, a strong sense of simple style, and help create a superlative little fable.
This is being dressed as a children's book, and I think it would serve very well. It might be a little too old for those who need to be read to, but it's great for reading aloud - taking a little over an hour. It also comes as a petite little story adults can find a lot in - one of those novelty little tales, perhaps like Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, that crop up once or twice every generation.
Again, I won't go into what the book concerns itself as a moral, but the fable aspect of the book sells it to me. It's a book that's so short it becomes a little awkward to rate - it might be too short to really shine, but again is too short to provide any flaws. But for that strangeness as we enter into the past I think it would deserve five stars. It's well worth considering, and having come across an adult book by Pennac before and not gaining much, it's pleasing to see a French author with the freedom and talent to write just what he wants and when, for whatever audience (children's books, adult thrillers and more), doing so much with so little.
I must thank the Walker Books people for the Bookbag's review copy.
To recap my favourite fables of the last years, they would have to be The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne and, for more mystical animals, The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac at Amazon.com.
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Jessica Coutts said:
This book is amazing I read it in school
