Wolfstongue
by Sam Thompson (Author) Anna Tromop (Illustrator)
"The best animal adventure since Watership Down" - The Times (The Times Children's Book of the Week, July 3rd 2021)
"Gripping and profound" -New Statesman
"A hugely original tale" -- The Irish Times
"A thrilling adventure" -- Meg Rosoff, author of How I Live Now
The children's debut by Booker-longlisted author Sam Thompson is an engrossing, thoughtful, beautifully written story about humans and animals, voice and power, neurodiversity and acceptance. Inspired by his own experience of having a son with speech difficulties, Wolfstongue is Sam Thompson's first novel for children.
Silas is a young boy who is bullied at school because his words will not come. He wishes he could live in silence as animals do. Deep in the Forest, the foxes live in an underground city built by their wolf slaves. The foxes' leader Reynard controls everything with his clever talk. One day, Silas helps an injured wolf. Then he enters the secret world of the Forest, where the last remaining wolves fight to survive. But even there, language is power. Can Silas find his voice in time to help his wolf friends - can he become the Wolfstongue?
A The Times children's book of the week in 2021
Locate at a Library Near You WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Find books about:
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
In a contemporary fable that draws inspiration from medieval European folklore, young Silas--bullied by cruel classmates due to an unspecified speech difficulty--is drawn into an epic adventure after he rescues an injured wolf from a band of talking foxes. The wolf, Isengrim, and his family are the last of their kind in the Forest that exists alongside Silas's home. They've recently escaped Reynard and his fellow foxes, who enslaved them and other wolves in order to build a vast underground burrow called the City of Earth. Isengrim believes that Silas is their Wolfstongue, a child capable of speaking for the wolves so they can live "as wolves ought to live. Free from words," and his voice does seem to snap the wolves out of the foxes' influence. When Reynard's elite guards kidnap Isengrim's pups to start a new generation of enslaved workers, Silas joins with three archetypal animals to save them. In a children's debut with a timeless feel, Thompson (Communion Town, for adults) considers the power of spoken language to both uplift and trap, employing sensory prose ("The wolf smelled like the scent that rises from dry ground at the end of a hot day when the rain begins to fall") to effectively trace one child navigating pointed cruelty across species. Tromop's realistic b&w illustrations add to the atmosphere. Human characters are presumed white. Ages 8-12. (Aug)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
"Gripping and profound." - The New Statesman
"Wolfstongue is a hugely original tale with classic influences and infrastructure." - The Irish Times
"A startling entrance into children's fiction." - The Echo
"A stunning fantasy adventure." - Mayo News
"One of the most extraordinary children's books I've ever read." -Anthony McGowan, author of The Fall
"An unforgettable fable. Raw, devastating and brilliantly written." - Lucy Strange, author of The Ghost of Midnight Lake
"An edge-of-the-seat adventure." - Meg Rosoff, author of How I Live Now
"Wolfstongue has classic written all over it." - Patricia Forde, author of The List
"Thompson is a superb writer. There is a dreamlike quality to his prose." - Literary Review
"Every now and again, a remarkable new children's book comes along which is a pleasure to read, isn't too long, and is filled with a sense of profound meaning and significance without ever feeling preachy. Wolfstongue is precisely this." - BookTrust
"Brilliantly compelling whilst at the same time making profound comments about the way language and expression help to define us and, when limited, can equally confine us, really powerful." - Youth Libraries Group
"This heart felt and exciting adventure has plenty to interest and reflect on." - Readers that Care
"This is a wonderful story that will have you on the edge of your seat." - Addicted to Books
"Children - and adults! - everywhere will certainly find comfort and magic within Wolfstongue's pages." - Buzz Magazine
"Lyrical, fierce, thoughtful, brave, emotional...a story of facing your fears and finding your voice. What a stunning book!" - Fallen Star Stories
"This is a wonderful book, it is heart warming, and full of adventure." - Bookbound
"Wolfstongue is an absorbing read and perfect for fans of the natural world, intrigue and adventure." -This Book is Brilliant!
"A powerful story about standing up to bullies, doing what's right and the power of language, this is a lyrical, beautiful children's-book debut." - What I Read
"Heady, lyrical and earthy." - Lily and the Fae
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
