FULL MOON PUPS

Young wolves go from helpless babes to howling pups over a lunar cycle.

From the anticipation of their birth to their first venturing into the dangerous outside world, five wolf pups are protected by their mother and pack. Joining a long line of “How could these cuties ever become dangerous predators?” books about wolves, this title amps up the cuteness with cuddly illustrations. The pups stumble blindly and snuggle with their mother; as they mature, they frolic amid flowers and butterflies, wrestle playfully in the moonlight, and begin to eat meat. “The pups grow ever bolder. / They start to reach and range. / What is that? And who is this? / The whole wide world is strange!” The dangers of the outside world are downplayed and vague; all five survive to the end, when they howl at a glowing full moon. The rhyming couplets are effective, the drawings lush, and the unnamed pups adorable, their story told with the ever present moon cycle a reminder of time passing. An author’s note and information on phases of the moon close out the work. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Irresistibly adorable wolf pups come of age in this attractive tale.