Nutik, the Wolf Pup

When a little Eskimo boy named Amaroq is given a sickly wolf pup to nurse back to health, his sister Julie warns him, "Don't fall in love, Amaroq, or your heart will break when the wolves come and take him away." But it's too late. One look in the pup's golden eyes and Amaroq is smitten. Soon enough, Nutik the wolf has grown fat and well, and he and Amaroq are never apart. When the wolf pack comes back to reclaim their cub, Amaroq must be strong enough to let him go. Now can the two friends be strong enough to remain apart?

Do some of these names sound familiar? They should. First told in the novel, Julie's Wolf Pack, this adventure is a young reader's picture-book introduction to Jean Craighead George's classic trilogy for older children, The Epic Adventures of Julie and Her Wolves, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves. George crafts an exquisite story for a new generation of readers sprung from those who grew up with many of her more than 80 outstanding children's books. Acclaimed illustrator Ted Rand traveled to the Arctic tundra to research the pictures for this book; the result is splendidly evocative of the beauty and desolation of Alaska, both in daylight (which lasts for three months in the summer) and at night. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter