Broach, Elise. The Wolf Keepers.

Broach, Elise.  The Wolf Keepers.  Macmillan/Henry Holt        2016    343p    $16.99  ISBN 978-0-8050-9899-0     ms/jr   Mystery/Detective VG-BN

Lizzie loves growing up in the zoo where her father, Mike, is head zookeeper. She has direct access to all of the animals and the enclosures. She is especially focused on the wolves. She finds them entrancing, and she spends many an hour sitting by their enclosure just watching them. Her favorite is Lobo, the most majestic.
   

Tyler, a runaway, hides at the zoo and tries to steal food to survive. Lizzie befriends him and offers him food and a place to stay. Together they discover that wolves are getting sick and missing. Events more or less lead them to tracking the culprit. They also find that they are on their way to solving the mysterious legend of the location of John Muir’s cabin.
   

The author has packed a wealth of problems and situations into this novel. The characters are well developed and situations are effectively handled, such as Tyler’s runaway status.        

Summary: Lizzie Durango lives in a California wildlife park named after John Muir. When wolves start disappearing she starts to investigate. She makes friends with Tyler Briggs as they try to solve the disappearance and uncover the mysterious location of John Muir’s cabin.      

Wolves-Fiction                                                                                                           —Linda McNeil

Carlson-Voiles, Polly. Summer of the Wolves.

Carlson-Voiles, Polly.  Summer of the Wolves.  Houghton Mifflin   343p $15.99 978-0-547-74591-6       ms/hs       VG         

Nika and Randall have been in the foster-care system for a while after the death of their mother. When their long lost uncle comes back to the country after one of his trips to study wolves, they are invited to come up to Minnesota for a visit.

This is the story of a young girl who feels lost after the death of a parent.  She tries to rebuild her sense of family and her place in life.  She has to deal with an entirely new environment and way of life.  The people she meets and the activities she undertakes help her to come to grips with herself.  The hardest adjustment is the realization of the importance of allowing wild animals to maintain their freedom from human interference.

This is a good read for anyone interested in the environment or wildlife management.

Orphans-Fiction, Wolves-Fiction, Minnesota-Fiction, Wilderness-Fiction, Family life-Fiction                                         --Linda McNeil