Book Review: Kalle & The Fierce Wolf by Hermine Landvreugd

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Kalle & de woeste wolf.

Saw that my library had a new book about wolves available, so I checked it out. Spoilers ahead.

Kalle, his friend Gebre and third wheel Denzel travel to North Brabant in the Netherlands, where Gebre and Denzel hope to see a wild wolf. Kalle meanwhile is afraid of wolves. But then they lose Denzel in the swamp... What if the wolf has gotten to him?

A perfectly average run-of-the-mill children's book. It's just okay. The characters are fine, the plot is simple but functional, the mystery and payoff okay. It's fine. Not that I was expecting high art or anything, but it would've been nice if this book had more going on for it so I had more to talk about here.

One thing I will bring up is that I don't like that they start treating the wolf like a dog once they rescue it. I get it, it's a weakened young animal without a pack and definitely needs to be looked after. The correct response here would've been for them to call a vet, forest ranger or contact a wildlife rescue center. But instead they start taking the wolf inside and having a good time with it and they feed it pizza, which is of course the opposite of what you're supposed to do with a wild animal and I hate the message this is sending to kids. "Oh yeah, just take wildlife to your home and feed it junkfood, who gives a shit."

There's also a factual error when Grandpa says that his pigeon Snaveltje won awards in the '80s. This is impossible, as domestic pigeons live for 15-20ish years max and this book clearly takes place in the 2020s, so there's no way Snaveltje could've been alive in the 1980s.

I also don't get why this book is set in North Brabant. The Netherlands does have a lot of wolves, but honestly Brabant is one of the least wolf-populated areas of the entire country. And early on in this book the boys keep going on about how there's wolves in North Brabant. I mean, technically they're not wrong, they have been spotted there from time to time, but there's so many more wolf-populated places in the Netherlands, like the Veluwe. It would've made so much more sense to set the story over there rather than Brabant. 

So yeah, mid book. I have some problems with it but if you don't take it too seriously this is overall just a fine, perfectly average kids book.

Rating: 3/5