Flight of the White Wolf

by Mel Ellis

Boy and his pet wolf go on the run after the wolf kills a valuable, pedigreed dog that was pestering it. At first he's chasing his wolf to try and catch it- even though he raised the wolf from a pup, it doesn't let him come close enough to touch. When he doesn't return after a while, people assume the wolf killed the boy, and armed hunters with dogs come after them. Now boy and wolf are fleeing in earnest- he can't stand to see the wolf killed and can't figure out how to recapture it. It's companionable enough, but won't follow back to the kennels where they lived. So they strike out north, for a forested area devoid of people where the boy has heard a wolf pack lives. He wants to introduce his wolf to the pack hoping they'll accept him and the wolf can live free in the wild.

Most of this is an adventure story, the journey through the woods trying to find shelter, food, and evade capture. More than once the boy and wolf have to face conflict for their survival- confront a dog that tracked them, kill birds or rabbits for food, get the wolf freed from a leg trap. At one point the boy resorts to stealing food, though he does manage to contact his parents (who for some reason are ok with this dangerous trek- the kid is fifteen, and apparently they have a lot of confidence in his abilities-) at one point and get supplies and food, so then he goes into small towns to buy food along the way. Lots of places are named in the book, I glanced at a map and was easily able to see the route they took. Even though the writing style didn't really appeal to me, I really liked how realistic the wolf's character was written- its modes of communication and wariness reminded me a lot of those in Julie of the Wolves. Appreciate that even though there's quite a lot of killing, it's very matter-of-fact, and made clear that it's done by necessity. I think kids -especially those who like adventure stories (such as those by Gary Paulsen) and animals would find this book more exciting than I did, though I like it well enough to look for a few more by this author. There's only one part that made me raise my eyebrows: when the boy mentions an uncle who used to give him a glass of wine before bedtime, how he missed that!

Rating: 3/5                   195 pages, 1970