Wolf Girl 8 – Welcome to Paradise

Anh Do's Welcome to Paradise is the eighth Wolf Girl adventure, a breathless ride for 8 year olds that starts in a canoe surrounded by crocodiles.

What happens

Gwen has been on her own since soldiers invaded her country and her family were lost. Her pack is a gang of dogs she can talk to, a huge wolf called Sunrise and an eagle. Now they're on the run from the Hornets, officers who want to catch the whole pack for someone called the Collector.

The first chapter doesn't let up! Pirate the pug falls overboard. Brutus the mastiff freezes on a rock with the crocs closing in. Gwen has to fling a charger into the river to shock them away. Then there's a speedboat full of Hornets, and a waterfall.

The pack wash up on Paradise Island, where Gwen's sister once said she'd spent some time. It's a very strange place. There are monkeys, macaws, a rhino, a lion and a family of elephants, none of which belong there. High up on the cliff sits a silver building that looks like a crashed UFO.

What makes these books is the dogs. You hear everything they say, and it's so funny. Pirate thinks every moment is a sea adventure. Tiny the chihuahua wants to eat everything (and fight everything). Brutus keeps being brave even though he hates water. Who wouldn't want a pack like that?

Gwen is great too. She's quick-thinking and fights with her sling and whatever she can grab. At one point she ties the Hornets up in their own nets!

The dangers are real, mind. A monkey scratch gets badly infected and Gwen nearly dies, drifting in and out as Sunrise carries her. A lion claws Sunrise as well. It's tense rather than gory, and it's all part of the breakneck pace.

What to read next

For an earlier adventure with the same pack, try Crash Course. Gwen steals a train and drives it flat out towards the town where her parents were last seen.