I rarely get the chance to read much midgrade fiction now but this was surprising, moving and quite dark. Beautifully and sparsely written with a strong beating heart and an edge of creepiness. A haunting novel.

A beautiful read, this is a powerful and emotive tale, it’s so engaging and addictive I really couldn’t put it down , well written, great characters, poignant and thought provoking read

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you to the publishers Andersen Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.

We Were Wolves is a gritty, poignant and dark tale about a young boy living in the woods in a caravan with his father. When his father, John goes to prison he is left to fend for himself, alone and in danger in the woods.

I found this book gripping and beautifully written. I really loved the black and white illustrations. Jason Cockcroft’s illustrations were stunning and really suited the gritty dark themes of the book.

However, I would have given this a higher rating of four stars, but, I can’t ignore the use of ableist language at times in this book. There were two sentences in particular that made me really uncomfortable as someone who has a learning disability and processing difficulties. As this is a middle grade / YA book I don’t think it is acceptable to use language such as “thick” or “slow” without some context and acknowledgement of how harmful these words can be. I was called these things and worse while growing up, so am very aware of how detrimental this kind of language can be. By using these words without any context of the harmful nature it implies that this kind of language is acceptable.

Examples of the sentences I’m referring to:

“The teachers knew it, too. Knew how slow I was, how hard it was to hammer the simplest things into my head. Because they thought I was thick, and maybe I was.”

“Like I was thick and they had to talk really slow so I'd get the message.”

Apologies for the lack of page number references. I no longer have access to the text.

Sorry, already review this book.
Here's my review:
A poignant and well written story, thought provoking and interesting.
The characters are well developed and I liked how the author dealt with themes like PTSD.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A strangely compulsive book about a teenager left on his own when his irresponsible father goes to prison leaving him in danger. Greatly enhanced by the illustrations.

I don't actually know how to describe this book because nothing I say will do this book justice. It was such a beautiful read that was oubly impacted by the illustrations within the book. It was powerful and impactful. A fanatstic read.