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A TIME OF LEGENDS by Rick McIntyre

A TIME OF LEGENDS

The Story of Two Fearless Wolves―And One Rebel

From the Chronicles of the Yellowstone Wolves series

by Rick McIntyre & David A. Poulsen ; illustrated by John Potter

Pub Date: April 15th, 2025
ISBN: 9781778401930
Publisher: Greystone Kids

Character portraits of three wolves—two heroic, one not so much.

Leaving out inessential detail and (aside from occasional personal comments in boldface) nearly all human presence, McIntyre turns narratives from his Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series into still absorbing but more quickly paced studies. He and co-author Poulsen focus on a mated pair, dubbed Wolf 21 and Wolf 42, highlighting their close relationship and the way they cared for their pack over a period of years. The authors go on to tell a more nuanced tale of Wolf 302, a sneaky, unreliable Lothario who only began to show signs of a reformed character after many years of reprehensible behavior. Other wolves move in and out of view in the meantime. Some wolves do get names, an inconsistency that only makes keeping track of who’s who harder; for all the winningly immersive descriptions of typical behaviors and changes within the pack, anthropomorphism takes command both in language—302 is described as a “punk rocker"—and in feelings and values on display. These traits range from courage, playfulness, parental care, and loyalty to acts less plausibly ascribed to kindness, altruism, depression, and a desire for revenge. Still, though the authors attempt to present much of the four-legged cast as good and bad examples for two-legged readers, there’s enough vividly narrated natural history to please lovers of wolves or of wild animals in general. Spot art is included; final art not seen.

Absorbing reading, if sometimes bearing down on moral lessons.

(Informational fiction. 11-13)