The Eyes of Gray Wolf

by Jonathan London, Jon Van Zyle (Illustrator)

Listen carefully and you will hear the wild, untamed music of Gray Wolf as he races along icy ridges, howls at the moon, fiercely defends his territory against an unknown pack, and, finally, settles with a new mate. The simple, poetic text follows the restless Gray Wolf as he wanders through the northern winter night and the spectacular illustrations present a dramatic look at a beautiful, endangered animal. A list of organizations is provided at the back of the book for readers moved to learn more and for those who would like to help the endangered wolf. An afterword that adults will want to share with children is also included and offers detailed information on wolves and their range throughout the world.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Wolves, Fiction, Nature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Jonathan London is the author of several celebrated children's books. His commitment to honoring the wonders of the natural world has been lauded by readers and critics alike. He is the author of more than 70 children's books, many of which are about nature. He's also the author of the popular Froggy series. He lives in Graton, California with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Shawn Deal]

These are great books. Mr. London is trying to show the beauty of animals in many of his stories. He also gives respect to the Native American tribes who told stories of these great animals. This story centers around a grey wolf and what he sees and him discovering a white wolf.

[Rod Brown]

I accidentally read this out of order with its sequel, The Seasons of Little Wolf. It might have worked a little better the other way around.

Anyhow, the art is fine, but the text reads like bad nature documentary narration. It really ruins the mood for me.

[Savanna]

Summary: This book is about a wolf that lost his mate because of humans. This wolf is hunting when he stumbles across a wolf pack. One of the females joins him and they start their own pack.

This book could be considered offensive because it is anti-hunting and pro-wolf. Also some parents might be leery of the word mate in the book.

This book is alright. It has great pictures, but not much of a story line. I can see a kid enjoying it, but not loving it.

[Carrie]

Beautiful illustrations!

[Abby]

I’ve had this book since I was a little girl, obsessed with wolves. The text and story are simple, but the illustrations are wonderful. My one-year-old agrees! It’s a good book to read on a snowy day, or if you’ve been practicing your howling.

[J]

Although this was suppose to be a nature-type book I found that there was a lot of wolf behavior mentioned that just basically confused me more than it educated me on the animal itself. And that is saying a lot, especially due to the fact that there was a page dedicated to providing the reader with more wolf information, wolf groups and a map of both past as well present wolf habitats in the United States.

The actual book itself had simple words to understand and follow along for a starting reader although the book does start off with a bit of a dark note as it explains the wolf's mate had been killed in a steel trap by humans. Otherwise the font size was pretty big to help with the reading.

As mentioned previously there were just too much inconsistencies for me on the wolf behavior. They had the gray wolf howling and standing where he can be seen. Although I am sure lone wolves howl that doesn't seem to be the style they would do so since it would lead them to also being exposed, especially to any packs that may actually own that territory. Another thing that didn't make sense to me was the fact that he never had a pack although he did have a mate. This whole latter set-up seems to imply that wolf packs are more likely to be made when two lonely wolves get together instead of the whole pack hierarchy being challenged by lone wolves or those on the inside trying to raise themselves from a lower ranking.

Out of all of this, though, I have to definitely say the best part was the illustrations. The book is fairly large while the illustrations take up the whole page and show the animals as well as their environment in full detail although beautifully done.

All in all it was a decent book but one I would be a bit wary about reading to a child unless they like learning more about wolves than just taking a fictional children's book at face value for the information.

[Denise みか Hutchins]

I know I read this book at school when I was a little kid, right when it was newly released, because I still have the drawing I did as a 7-year-old, copying the cover! (Here it is on Twitter if you want to see it, ha ha https://twitter.com/StudioMikarts/status/1316401096408080384) I had dug up that drawing recently for a university project where my team wanted to show my art progression from kid to adult, and that inspired me to get a copy of the book it was based on for my home library! I was very happy to find a good used copy for incredibly cheap, especially since it was an original copy featuring the cover I used as reference for that drawing. This evening I read the book again for the first time in about 25 years!

It's still a lovely book, telling the story of a wolf who lost his pack. It's a positive story, realistic, not saccharine, and naturalistic, not fantastic. The illustrations are still beautiful, as well. Definitely a children's picture book worth reading even a quarter of a century later!

[Louise]

Beautiful illustrations, evocative of the great frozen north. Gray wolf is restless. His mate has died in a trap. He is lonely and hunting by himself. He meets up with a wolf pack late at night, lurking in the dark. There is a page at the end on the threats to wolf survival, and an interesting map showing the wolf's range in the 1700s (basically all of North America except Florida) and the range today (mainly Canada).

[Alice]

I really enjoyed this book! It is slightly outdated as It was written in 1993 and the Wolves were re-introduced into Yellowstone in 1995. Other than that the pictures are stunning and the story is interesting.

The writing is beautiful as well. "At the top, he closes his eyes, throws back his head, and howls. A wild untamed music, it seems to bounce of the moon, echoing from the mountains and filling the gullies and valleys." Very nice book!

[Dolly]

This is a wonderful tale of a wolf, with equally impressive illustrations. It helps tell a tale of a much-maligned animal and the author's note at the end helps to explain the plight of the wolf. It also offers a list of groups who are dedicated to preserving the majestic animal. We enjoyed reading this story together.

[Rosa Cline]

What a fabulous beautifully written book about wolves! One lonely wolf roam the wilderness alone since his mate has been caught; but he soon finds a wolf pack and finds another mate. Beautifully written and illustrated. My teen age special needs son loved this book, he understood how it was written what was going on within the story. One we need to add to our own personal library!

[Isabella]

The Eyes of Gray Wolf is a peaceful glimpse into the life of a lone wolf. Vivid, memorable illustrations and a simple, enchanting story, this book is one that I have loved for many years, since I was a little girl fascinated by animals.

[Sandy]

My kids love wolves - any lover of fairy tales does. They were entranced by the calm prose this book leveraged. It was a bit of a strange, sad story about wolves in the wild. Overall, a good book but not one we loved. I also didn't know that it was part of a series until I saw some of the other reviews.

[Linda Costello]

Boys would love this book. It follows a gray wolf who has lost his mate. He finds a new wolf pack and a new mate. The end has some interesting reference information

[Alyson]

When I was a little kid just learning how to read this was my favorite book. I checked it out from the school library more times than I could count. A great story for any child.

[Heather]

My favorite thing about this book is when the wolf is sniffing in the snow. He is smelling in there to see if there is any food, and the moonlight helps him see. (Brody - 5 years old)

[Esodhiambo]

Realistic fiction
Camouflage
Wolves

[Rani]

The restless gray wolf finds a mate and life cyle starts all over again. Will they survive human assault?

[Ck]

beautiful illustrations

[Kian]

Love, love, love! We read it three times in one evening!

[Jerry]

I love it the poor gray wolf lost his mate to a mans steal trap is so sad but i think my brother will love this book even though he does not understand words yet

[Jane]

The Eyes of Gray Wolf, by Jonathan London and illustrated by Jon Van Zyle tells the story about one lone wolf that has lost his mate and what he does on a lonely night out hunting. The illustrations are soft and beautiful as he travels through the icy world of Northern Canada. He finds another mate and as she sleeps he guards her as daylight comes.

In the back is a map showing the current habitat compared to 1700s and a list of groups that support conservation of the wolves on the North American Continent.

[Astrid]

This would be a good basic introduction to the day in the life of a wolf.
The last page has a nice list of eight organizations in the USA and Canada working to help wolves:
International Wolf Center
H.O.W.L.
Wolf Haven
Defenders of Wildlife
Canadian Wolf Defenders
WOLF!
Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center
Wolf Song of Alaska

[Mariah]

A wonderful message filled story with gorgeous art!

[Sean Harding]

London Odyssey #56
Nice tale around the gray wolf, giving factual information surreptitiously and working it into a story with some really good illustrations to match.

[Leslie]

The art is just gorgeous!!

[Sarah Wilson]

3.5 stars. Simple story, with stunning illustrations. It was fun to hear the kids talk about wolf conservation efforts after reading it. :)

[Rose]

E Lon