In this counting/calendar book dedicated to dogs' distant cousins, debut picture book author Cohn along with Detwiler (The First Teddy Bear
) concentrate on personality and ambience, reserving facts and insights for a closing instructional guide. Cohn makes use of rhyming couplets, with a structured, repeating form that emphasizes the progressing months and increasing numbers. In February, two wolves enjoy a snowy frolic “deep in the woods where the harsh winds blow”; May brings the birth of five “fuzzy pups, funny pups” who “sniff and stare”; and September finds a pack of nine putting their natural camouflage to use among the brilliant foliage (and giving readers an opportunity to pick them out). Detwiler invokes just the right amount of romanticism: her wolves tussle in the purple rays of a frigid sunrise and dance, silhouetted, in the falling shadows of twilight—but they're always unmistakably wild. Readers should be captivated by the animals' resilient joie de vivre as well as by their habitats' seasonal glories. The educational guide offers wolf facts, activities and details about their life cycle. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)
