A young man unexpectedly becomes the owner of a wolf cub. He doesn’t yet know how to behave with his new pet, but he is determined to train him. The wolf will have to live in a city apartment and share space with other animals, completely domestic ones - a cat and a dog. But a wolf, despite the fact that it came to people as a baby, is a wolf. No matter how much, as they say, you feed him, he keeps looking into the forest: a heavy animal spirit comes from him, at night he howls, he bites seriously... It’s hard for a man, but what is it like for a wolf? For a wild animal next to a person, of course, life is also painful: it does not know how to adapt, caress, and does not want to follow commands.
This is a fairly serious story, not sentimental, not heartbreaking, without death and suffering, but it keeps the reader in suspense, makes one think about the relationship between people and animals, about responsibility and humanity. There are several rather harsh moments, in particular those where the owner beats the wolf, wanting to force him to follow commands. But here we are not talking about cruelty towards a weaker creature - no, the owner loves his wolf and takes care of him. This is more about education methods, which, fortunately, are outdated these days - a good reason to discuss with your child respectful attitude towards animals, and relationships in general from a position of strength/equality/encouragement.
Briefly about the publication: it is absolutely beautiful! The story about the wolf is quite small in volume, about half an hour of reading, but the book is designed like the most solid work: a fabric spine, snow-white, smooth and dense offset, charming illustrations (what a charming wolf cub turned out to be!).
And the most interesting thing! The book contains an afterword by a cynologist biologist, who explains the text of the story: why the wolf behaves this way, what mistakes the owner made, what is the difference between keeping a dog and a wolf. The book will appeal to animal lovers, and those who dream of owning some kind of animal will make them think about whether they are really ready for this.
Boris Zhitkov “About the Wolf” for primary and secondary school age:
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