The Winter Wolf

Holly Webb's The Winter Wolf is a time-slip Christmas story for 7 year olds about a girl who's scared of dogs and ends up looking after a wolf pup.

What happens

Amelia is spending Christmas at Allan House, a huge old house in Scotland that her mum now owns with a cousin. The cousins are there too. So is Freddie, their enormous shaggy dog.

Amelia has been terrified of big dogs since one knocked her over in the park. Freddie is the biggest dog she's ever seen. Her cousin Tom thinks she's being silly (and he isn't very kind about it).

So she spends a lot of time hiding. That's how she finds a little door behind a cupboard, a dusty staircase and an attic full of old trunks. In a coat pocket there's a diary from 1873, kept by a boy called Noah Allan, who lived in Wisconsin.

Noah's family live in a cabin miles from anywhere. A neighbour's son has shot at a wolf, and Noah has found a hungry pup wandering on his own. He's hiding him in a hollow tree and sneaking him food.

Then Amelia falls asleep reading, and wakes up in Noah's stable, next to a cow.

It's such a clever idea for a child with a fear. Amelia isn't brave to start with, and she doesn't pretend to be. She's hiding from a dog when the whole thing begins! Now she's the one who has offered to help with a wolf. You can't help willing her on.

The diary bits are lovely too. Noah sounds old-fashioned and a bit grumpy about his neighbours, and his life is a world away from Amelia's. His ma makes everything by hand and the nearest town is a day away.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Noah's little sister Grace died of a bad cough last year, and he talks about it plainly. It happened before the story starts, but it's sad, and it's part of why he's so desperate to save the pup. There's hunting too, with guns and a wounded mother wolf. A very sensitive reader might need a chat about Grace. An animal lover will be gripped.

What to read next

If they'd like another girl who wakes up somewhere strange and helps a boy rescue a young wild animal, try Holly Webb's Luna. Hannah finds herself in a stable at an old-fashioned Christmas market, and a boy called Matthias needs her help to steal back a bear cub.