In Rosanne Parry’s middle grade novel A Wolf Called Wander, a tale told by a young wolf separated from his pack and based on real Oregon wolf OR-7, the narrator’s injured sibling vanishes. When readers asked the author what happened to Warm, Wander’s missing brother, Parry decided he had survived and warranted a book of his own. A Wolf Called Fire will be published by Greenwillow next February, as part of a newly announced two-book, six-figure deal, and the cover is shown here for the first time.
A Wolf Called Wander, and Parry’s other animal books, have seen a steady build and sustained success for the Portland, Ore., author, who also works as a bookseller at Annie Bloom’s Books. Parry’s agent, Fiona Kenshole of the Transatlantic Agency, said that Wander became “a word-of-mouth bestseller” in 2019, after being rejected by 42 editors. “It has now sold well over 500,000 copies in North America and is published in 15 territories,” she said. “We are hearing so many gloomy stories about middle grade, so it’s truly inspiring to see this author doing well through good storytelling, a caring publisher, and a passionate readership.”
Wander was the first book in what’s now Parry’s Voice of the Wilderness series, which includes A Whale of the Wild, a story of orcas; A Horse Named Sky, from a mustang’s perspective; and a nonfiction picture book about predator-influenced trophic cascades in Yellowstone National Park, The Wolf Effect: A Wilderness Revival Story, illustrated by Jennifer Thermes, which came out in May. A Wolf Called Fire and a work in progress about ravens will add to the set.
Virginia Duncan, Parry’s editor and VP/publisher at Greenwillow, says Parry’s research adventures and animal knowledge come across in her characters. “I love the feeling of being right there in the middle of the wilderness and the action, and I imagine younger readers do too,” Duncan said. “A Wolf Called Wander has been on 20 state reading lists, and A Whale of the Wild on four to date and counting. The Voice of the Wilderness books have been especially embraced by teachers who use them as classroom read-alouds as well as a fictional component in classroom lessons about animals, the natural world and habitats, and conservation.”
Duncan noted the importance of nonfiction back matter in Parry’s novels, with animal facts to supplement the fiction. “We adore back matter at Greenwillow, and the added material in Rosanne’s books give readers some fun facts and historical and environmental context as well as a call to action,” she said.
An Unlikely Leader of the Pack
To signal the parallels between A Wolf Called Wander and A Wolf Called Fire, both books are illustrated by Spanish artist Mónica Armiño, with cover art by Cindy Derby. Yet Fire is not a continuation of the first book. “It’s such a brilliant companion story—definitely not a sequel,” Duncan said. “The two novels are set during the same timeframe and crisscross once or twice, but A Wolf Called Fire is a satisfying stand-alone animal adventure story inspired by another real wolf—the famous Wolf 8 of Yellowstone.”
Rather than follow a leader-of-the-pack alpha wolf, A Wolf Called Fire introduces a back-of-the-pack omega wolf. “In the 10 years since I researched A Wolf Called Wander, people have learned a lot more about pack dynamics” and the fluid roles the wolves play in groups, Parry said. By reading Rick McIntyre’s The Rise of Wolf 8 (Greystone), she discovered a wolf who began life low in his pack hierarchy but “had a real affinity for pups and an unusual talent for mentoring them. He became the patriarch of the most powerful pack in Yellowstone, and even though he fought most of the other alphas in the park, he never killed one that he defeated.” Parry fused Wolf 8’s story with Warm’s nurturing personality. “Can he be a new leader by being the wolf that he’s always been?” Parry asked herself.
Once Parry’s manuscript was complete, Armiño came on board to create the interior illustrations. “I have to say that it stole my heart from the very beginning,” Armiño said of the story. The artist—whose other projects include Jamie Oliver’s Billy and the Giant Adventure—revisited her style from A Wolf Called Wander and studied photos of wolves to accurately depict their expressions and their relative sizes. “I had to rediscover the brushes and textures I used, refresh the pictorial process, and prepare new textures with ink and traditional techniques like splatters, stains, and dry brush,” she added. Greenwillow will publish two fully illustrated chapters of A Wolf Called Fire in the forthcoming paperback edition of A Horse Named Sky, to be released on August 27.
Parry, who is currently working on the raven novel as well as a nonfiction picture book about river restoration and dam removal in her home region, the Pacific Northwest, hopes that A Wolf Called Fire and her other books ignite care and concern among young readers. “I want to write things that will help children have an emotional connection to the wilderness, because we are hardwired to defend what we love,” she said. “I want them to really invest in that story, so that they feel like the wilderness is a part of them and have an urge to protect it.” And she wants them to use that energy to write on behalf of the causes they support. “I want children to know that whatever cause they care about, writing is an avenue to power for them.”
