This is a thought-provoking novel that explores the connection between children and the natural world, published in Barrington Stoke’s ‘super-readable’ and dyslexia-friendly style. The book is short and unintimidating and taps into important issues that interest and concern young readers, making it a suitable choice for children in the 7-9 age bracket and also for older, less confident readers.

Izzy and her friend Asha live in London and feel like there is no space to play. Looking for a new space to roam freely, the friends stumble across a derelict gasworks building and soon discover that among the rubble there is a growing miscellany of wildlife already finding shelter there, including a wolf. Unsure whether to approach the wolf, the children can see that the creature is suffering an injury and is in desperate need of help. The children need to tap into their connection with the wild as they attempt to save the wolf and speak up for creating a new nature reserve in the city.

The bond between children and nature is strikingly portrayed in the story and there is an encouragement too for young people to make heard their unique perspective when it comes to ‘rewilding’. Gill Lewis has created an important and moving story about how essential it is to retain dedicated outdoor spaces for people and wildlife to roam freely within the context of busy urban landscapes, because there is a little bit of wild inside us all that otherwise risks being lost in the crowdedness of modern life.