Wolf Girl 7 – Crash Course

Anh Do's Crash Course is a breakneck Wolf Girl adventure for 8 year olds that opens with a girl driving a stolen train.

What happens

Gwen has been on her own for years, ever since soldiers invaded her country and she was separated from her family. Her company is a pack of dogs she can talk to, a huge wolf called Sunrise and an eagle who keeps finding her again.

Now she's heard her parents were seen in a border town called Tunny. So she's heading there at full speed, with the dogs taking turns to stick their heads out of the smashed windscreen.

Then a train pulls up alongside. And sitting in the last carriage is her big sister, Kate!

They only get a moment to shout to each other before Kate's train pulls away. Gwen promises she'll set her free. But first she has to get into Tunny, and the gates are guarded. Her solution? Drive straight through them.

Once inside, she ties rope leashes on the dogs and tries to pass as a trader. It almost works. The trouble is that everyone wants to buy the wolf, including a sly officer called Evans. And his soldiers carry strange stinger guns that shoot glowing bolts.

The dogs are the best thing about this book. Each one has its own voice. Tiny the chihuahua is sure he's the most powerfullest dog in the world. Pirate talks like an old sea dog. Brutus grumbles about everything. Sunrise stays calm and grand through all of it. Their bickering takes the edge off some very tense moments.

It's properly exciting too, with a train crash, chases through back alleys and a fight in a warehouse full of dinosaur skeletons and statues. Gwen tells the story herself, so you're right there with her when things go wrong.

It's tense in places. Sunrise gets hurt and dragged away, Gwen is yanked off a truck roof with a whip and tied up, and there's talk of animals being sold and of captives sent to work in mines. The deeper sadness is Gwen's family. She hasn't seen her parents since she was little. For a reader who worries about being apart from their family, those pages may land hard.

This isn't the first Wolf Girl book. It picks up straight after an earlier adventure, but Gwen fills you in as she goes.

What to read next

Anh Do has another girl with a gift for animals in Brave the Storm. Amber is on the road and lying low, and the power she uses to command insects has suddenly stopped working.