Wolf Brother facts for kids
UK cover of the book
|
|
| Author | Michelle Paver |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Geoff Taylor |
| Cover artist | John Fordham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Chronicles of Ancient Darkness |
| Genre | Children's adventure, fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Orion Children's Books |
|
Publication date
|
27 May 2004 (UK) 30 September 2004 (US) |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback), audio book (CD & cassette) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 1-84255-170-1 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 56645545 |
| Followed by | Spirit Walker |
Wolf Brother is the first book in the series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver. Wolf Brother takes place six thousand years ago during the Middle Stone Age, and tells the story of twelve-year-old Torak, a boy who can talk to wolves. The book was published in 2004 by Orion Children's Books.
Most reviews were very positive, commenting on Paver's imagery, humour, and descriptive writings style. Most praised the author's attention to detail and depth of research. Paver travelled to the forests of Finland researching how people lived 6000 years ago, and she also spent time with wolves at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust. She also studied the raven population at the Tower of London. Wolf Brother is illustrated by Geoff Taylor.
Plot summary
In pre-agricultural Europe, the people of the Forest live in clans, each represented by a particular animal or life form. These clans live a hunter-gatherer existence with a shamanic belief system. Torak and his father, of the "Wolf Clan", live together in the forest. During Torak's twelfth year, his father ("Fa") is killed by a bear which has been possessed by a demon. Before Torak's father dies, he tells Torak to swear an oath to head north and find the Mountain of the World Spirit, to ask it to help destroy the bear before it kills all life in the forest. His father tells him that his ‘guide’ will find him and help him on his quest. Torak reluctantly leaves his father as the bear comes back to kill him.
Torak heads north and soon encounters an orphaned wolf cub. After failing to kill it out of compassion, he discovers that he can communicate with it. He realises the cub is the guide, and over time they bond. A few days later Torak and Wolf are captured by three members of the Raven Clan, including a girl called Renn, who accuse Torak of stealing one of their roebuck. They are taken to the Raven camp so Torak's fate can be decided by Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan leader. To regain his freedom, Torak fights Hord, Renn's brother, who is older and stronger, to prove his innocence.
He wins by temporarily blinding Hord with steam; this action, together with a dog whistle which Torak has made to summon Wolf, leads Fin-Kedinn and the Raven mage to see Torak as the "Listener" of a prophecy. The prophecy states that the Listener, who "talks with silence and fights with air", will offer his heart's blood to the World Spirit and thereby kill the demon-bear. Many Ravens now believe that Torak must be sacrificed near the Mountain of the World Spirit. Torak manages to escape his imprisonment; he is unexpectedly joined by Renn, who has also brought Wolf. On their journey to the Mountain, they encounter the Walker, a mad hunter, and the demon bear. They also find three pieces of the Nanuak, which are parts of the world's soul.
Nearly at their destination, Renn and Torak are recaptured by the Ravens. Hord argues that he should take Torak to the Mountain and sacrifice him there, to appease the World Spirit. Fin-Kedinn however releases Torak, believing him to be the one who should go to the Mountain. Fin-Kedinn also reveals that Torak's Fa was killed because he was the foremost enemy of a group of rogue mages, the Soul Eaters, who turned to evil in their determination to rule the clans.
Torak and Wolf climb the mountain, followed by the bear. Torak is unexpectedly attacked by Hord, who believes himself to be the one who must take the Nanuak to the mountain. Torak realises that the "heart's blood" of the prophecy means Wolf, and as Wolf carries off the Nanuak, Hord and the bear are engulfed by an ensuing avalanche, and fall down the mountain, killing Hord and destroying the bear. Torak escapes from his hiding place and looks for Wolf, but he only hears his howl in the distance, along with the howls of other wolves. Torak shouts to Wolf in human language, promising that he will one day return for him, before turning to head back into the forest.
Translations
The book has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, French, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Japanese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Hungarian, Latvian, Danish, Indonesian, Romanian, Icelandic, Turkish, Slovenian and Faroese (Faroe Islands).
Sequels
When Paver was writing the first draft of Wolf Brother in 2004, she did not originally plan it to be a series of books. As she wrote the book she quickly realised the story would not be able to be contained within the pages of only one book. The next book in the series, Spirit Walker, was published on 28 June 2006.
Radio show and audiobook
The book was adapted in ten episodes for BBC Radio by Ivan Jones in 2007.
The book also has made into an audio read version narrated by Ian McKellen.
See also
In Spanish: Hermano lobo (novela) para niños
