Timberwolf

Cassidy Rempel

Genre: FictionSetting: Northern wilderness208 pages

Caroline Pignat

•Irish Canadian author and English teacher

•Born Dec. 7 1970 (42 years old)•Graduated from Ottawa University, now lives

in Kanata, Ontario•Married, with 2 kids•Work has been published in Highlights for

Children, and Living Faith for KidsWon the Governor General’s award in 2009 for novel “Greener Grass: The Famine Years”

*

Characters

• main character• around the age of 12• light blonde hair• determined to find his

family and return home• bad luck• head injuries cause him

to temporarily forget his previous life

Jack

Mahingan

• secondary character• also around the age of 12• Aboriginal• a trapper• strong• self-absorbed/full of

himself• spiteful• family oriented• does not get along with

Jack for majority of the novel

Summary• The main character, Jack, wakes up in the middle of the

Canadian wilderness. He is alone, unaware of who he is, where he is, and how he got there

• He struggles to find food and shelter, and then begins being helped by a wolf, whom at first he was afraid of, who protected him and helped him survive

• He meets an Aboriginal boy named Mahingan, they don’t get along but Jack stays with him and his grandfather for awhile

• During the novel, Jack’s memories slowly but surely start to come back to him; he has many things in his past that he regrets

• Throughout the novel, Jack and Mahingan learn patience and other ways of life from Mahingan’s grandfather

• The boys endured threatening situations – Mahingan suffered from deep cuts from animal attacks, Jack was captured by a dillusional and unstable man who thought he was his son,

… Jack was almost killed by a bear but saved by Mahingan, and saved by the wolf, who was killed in the attack• Still unsure of his identity, memories come back to Jack

including the fact that his father died, in which was hard for him to deal with. He finds out Mahingan’s father also died and the two become closer because of this

• The rest of Mahingan’s people meet up with them. The closeness of his family and spending time with them teaches Jack not to give up hope, making him realize he needs to find his way home

• After the new friendships he made, and coming to terms with his past, his new friends help guide him home on the river, where he arrives in his hometown and finds his sister and family who are very surprised to see him, and reunites with them

• The novel ends with him beginning to tell them the story of his journey

Likes & Dislikes

Likes• The interesting story

line• The fact that the story

is being told in first person; understand the novel from Jack’s point of view

• The fact that Jack reunites with his family in the end

Dislikes• Jack’s flashbacks –

began to get confusing• The ending – would have

preferred to see how Jack continued on with his life; how he would have coped back in his old life/routine

Vocabulary words• Shanty – A small, crudely built shack

Ex: They only lived in a small shanty.

• Slathered – to spread or smear a substanceEx: I slathered the bread with jam.

• Sheath – A cover for the blade of a knife or swordEx: He took off the sheath of the knife before he cut the food.

• Thatched – cover (a roof or a building) with straw or a similar materialEx: The roof of their small barn was thatched with straw.

• Guttural – a harsh sound produced by the throatEx: Her voice made a guttural sound when she was sick.

• Swoon – to faint from extreme emotionEx: When she saw the blood, she fell into a swoon.

Why you should read Timberwolf

I would recommend this novel because:•Taught several virtues – patience,

friendship, teamwork•It was interesting and exciting to read

Theme: Survival•The theme of this novel was survival in the

Canadian North, which was represented by Jack

•Jack survived harsh weather conditions and potentially fatal situations

•He coped with the situations he faced in order to survive

•He never gave up hope to find his family•This novel taught me how important it is to

never give up hope or to stop trying

Review• The fictional novel Timberwolf by

Caroline Pignat was an interesting read. It focused on the struggles of survival. It was interesting to get into Jack’s thoughts and understand what he was going through from his perspective. Jack’s flashbacks were interesting because they showed a glimpse of how Jack’s life was before what had happened to him. I enjoyed this novel. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars

Changes

•If I could change the title page of the novel, I would show Jack and the wolf getting along, because the title page portrays the wolf as dark and evil. I would also change the title to something like “Lost in the Wilderness”, because the focus of the novel is more on Jack’s situation, not the wolf.

Interesting fact/Free Page•Timberwolf is one of the

many novels nominated to win a MYRCA award in 2013 (Manitoba’s Young Reader’s Choice Award”