Jo Loring-Fisher Books

The first page of Wolf Girl shows a sad face staring from a window of a tower block. Browns and greys surround her, the sky is clouded and the roads are twisted like the knots in her stomach. Behind Sophy’s forlorn face is a square of colour which stands out: a picture of a wolf.

Away from the outside world, Sophy finds happiness in her den – the place where she can be herself, or anyone else for that matter. Sophy’s face wears a smile when she is in her wolf costume, the skin she wears when being Sophy just isn’t enough. As a wolf, Sophy finds the strength and courage to be loud and fast. Sophy is a worrier and Sophy is shy, but wolves are brave and wolves are adventurous – so Sophy decides that she will be a wolf. Sadly, wolves in school isn’t to everyone’s liking and Sophy’s plan doesn’t gain her the friends that she longs for.

The illustrations in this beautiful book allow the reader, old or young, to feel Sophy’s anguish. We see how the children’s laughter causes her distress and how alone and bleak she feels. There is great depth and empathy within every page. When Sophy finds herself face-to-face with a bear, she has to confront the threat and she finds her voice. The reader might then be forgiven for predicting that the story would end with Sophy being a braver, less anxious child. But no, there is far more to learn from her experience. You see, Sophy looks at the bear and makes a very wise realisation. It is the lesson that Sophy learns from her encounter with the bear that then helps her to smile and for the subsequent pages to become lighter and brighter. The ending of Sophy’s story is a good one; it carries a message of hope to those children who feel that they don’t quite ‘fit in’ and it tells us that sometimes the things that we fear are not quite as big or as scary as we had once thought.

As the parent of a shy little girl who doesn’t think she fits in, this story struck a chord with me. We all can do with our own secret wolf sometimes, but we also need to know that bears need hugs too.

A beautiful book with wolf-like wisdom and bear-sized warmth.

Reviewer: Jo Clarke.