Join a pack of wolves during a year in Yellowstone National Park as they rear new pups, traverse their territory, cross rivers, chase ravens, bump into bears and meet a host of other diverse animals.

With vibrantly illustrated pages and engaging storytelling, a family of wolves comes to life in the rugged and beautiful setting of Yellowstone National Park. Through the seasons, readers will learn about all aspects of wolf life, including:

Spring denning and the first months of life with a new litter of pups
The excitement and danger of the hunt
Defending the territory from other wolf packs
Interactions with bears, coyotes, ravens, elk, bison, and a host of other animals

Informative side panels enhance the story with details about wolf behavior and anatomy, as well as facts about other animals and plants that inhabit the ecosystem. Author Kathleen Yale has worked as a wildlife field biologist and has teamed up with the International Wolf Center, one of the world's most respected nonprofits for education and research about wolves. Nature illustrator Carrie Shryock’s lively and charming graphics make the wolf pack's story come alive.

Kathleen Yale is the author of the award-winning children’s book, Howl Like a Wolf! which combines ecology, animal behavior, and imagination to engage children in creative play. She’s Orion magazine's digital editor, a former scriptwriter for the educational programs SciShow and Crash Course, and prior to that worked as a wildlife field biologist. She lives in northwest Montana with her family.

Outline: Spreads 1-22

Spread #1: Landscape view with a description of the setting. Show mountains, flats, a river, etc. peppered with wildlife.
Spread #2: Introduce our wolf pack. Talk about pack size, how most members are related, etc. Big sidebar on wolf stats related to weight, height, coloration, life span, etc.
Spread #3: The mama wolf prepares a den site for giving birth to a new litter of pups. It’s an exciting time for the pack! Show mama digging around. Perhaps a sidebar with boxes showing other pregnant animals (elk, coyotes, goats, etc.) and/or other close-up signs of spring.
Spread #4: The pups are born! View inside the den of nursing pups with info on size, etc. The pack hunts for mama and brings her food as the pups grow. Sidebar showing other baby animals (chicks hatching, little bison, elk calves, etc.) with some facts.
Spread #5: The pups are big enough to tumble out of the den, but they will stay in the vicinity as they are still too young to travel. Other packmates hang out with the pups so mom can hunt again. Maybe a sidebar showing items found near wolf dens (things brought back to the pups as toys, like bones, tin can, show, sweatshirt, antler, etc.)
Spread #6: Spread of typical wolf behavior and perhaps an average day in the life of the pack. Nap, wake up, group rally, howl, ready to travel, leave nap site in a single-file line.
Spread #7: All about common body language (tail up, pay bow, tail tucked, ears back, ride up, etc.). Maybe a sidebar showing other local canids (coyote and fox) with a size chart and facts.
Spread #8: The pack moves the pups to a rendezvous site away from the den where they remain for a few weeks before the pups are old enough to truly roam with the pack. Mid-summer now. Perhaps a box map showing a trail from the den to the rendezvous site. Sidebars showing other animals TBD doing their summer thing.
Spread #9: The pups are growing fast, learning how to be wolves, and exploring the summer landscape. Maybe a break in the story here to highlight some local flora? Sidebar on wildlife flower closeups, one on some tree species, sage, etc.
Spread #10: Pups are old enough to travel with the pack for the first time. Signs of late summer. Facts about pack boundaries. Sidebar on scent marking (how both alphas pee in the same spot) with other boxes on how some other species scent mark. Possible sidebar on the bison rut?
Spread #11: Uh Oh! The pack is too close to a territory boundary and experiences tension with another neighboring pack. Howling back and forth. Maybe an encounter where one ends up chasing the other.
Spread #12: The pack crosses a river. Lots of facts and close-ups of riparian area ecology. Maybe talk about how predator/prey balance keeps the whole ecosystem healthy and prevents trophic cascade. Show water birds, willows, songbirds, beavers, otters, and fish.
Spread #13: The pack goes hunting and pursues a herd of elk. Sidebar of what wolves might eat. Birds starting to migrate south.
Spread #14: Close-up of pack eating a kill. Facts on how much they can eat at once, etc. Maybe a sidebar showing a few types of bones.
Spread #15: Dang! A grizzly bear lumbers in and steals the pack’s meal. They try to kick him out but to no avail. Sidebar on black bear vs grizzly bear ID. Some boxes on other big predators: mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, wolverine.
Spread #16: When the bear finally leaves, there isn’t much left. Show various scavengers creeping in: Bald eagles, ravens, magpies, coyotes/foxes. Perhaps with arrows that zoom out to illustrated bubbles with extra facts on these species. Sidebar on raven intelligence, behavior, and wolf-raven interactions.
Spread #17: End of fall—like many animals, the wolves’ fur is getting thicker. Elk bugling and rut. Sidebar on ungulates (sheep, deer, mountain goats, elk, bison, pronghorn – difference between antlers and horns). Bears go into hibernation. Maybe a sidebar on other hibernating animals.
Spread #18: Blizzard. Winter is here. Show a bunch of animals hunkered down in bad weather. Wolves walk single file to pack down snow with their big paws, and their thick winter coats keep them warm. Sidebar on weasels, snowshoe hares, and ptarmigans and how their fur color turns white in winter. Maybe something about thermal springs. Possible sidebar on how animals forage in winter. Possible sidebar on northern lights.
Spread #19: Beautiful sunny winter day, wolves are playing, rolling around in the snow. Sidebar/boxes on different animal tracks. Maybe otters sliding around on the ice.
Spread #20: Courtship behavior in February. Elk drop antlers in March.
Spread #21: Signs of spring. Birds coming back. The alpha female is denning again. First spring wildflowers are popping up.
Spread #22: New pups emerge from den. The next generation of wolves is here, and the pack is having fun with the pups. (Other baby animals abound as well.) Celebratory feel.

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