Kai's heartbroken father leaves his infant son to die near a wolf's den because he has a "leg like a withered leaf"; the People--their Paleolithic-era community--view anyone with a deformity as tabat, or cursed. But a mother wolf takes the baby into her den, and that's where Kai's human mother discovers her son some months later. From that day forward, Kai lives uneasily, bullied and feared by his immet (village).
By age 12, Kai has become frustrated with his inability to contribute to the immet--as a tabat boy, he is forbidden to hunt: "Cripple or not, I was nearly old enough to be a hunter. There was nothing wrong with my eyes, my arms, my hands. I could climb high into a tree. I could swim and dive in the icy water of our river." When Kai, who is still deeply bonded with wolves, brings home an orphaned pup, it's only a matter of time before her whining hunger--and rapidly sharpening teeth--become problematic. A tragic accident is the tipping point, and tormented, guilt-ridden Kai and his beloved wolf, Uff, set off to the foreboding northern territory inhabited only by the elusive Ice Men, stocky, heavy-browed, so-called "animal-men."
In The Wolf's Boy, the clean, accessible prose of Susan Williams Beckhorn (Wind Rider) draws readers into prehistory at a time when humans were on the verge of domesticating dogs. Fans of adventure, survival and animal stories will love Kai's independent spirit and drive to live and thrive as he transcends his "bad foot" to find his own power in the world. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor