I apologize for the delay in posting our October Book Review. I was traveling a lot last month for work and have been very busy. Also, the original book I selected for our October Book Review turned out to be pretty bad. I didn't think it was something I could recommend, so I chose another book. And I am very glad I did.
by Catherine Constable is a wonderful book that incorporates Russian folklore with touches of mystery and fantasy. I would definitely recommend this book for Middle-Grade readers, especially those who enjoyed the Harry Potter novels as this book gives off a similar vibe.
The Wolf Princess is the story of a girl named Sophie Smith, who attends a London boarding school.
Sophie is a poor, orphan with a neglectful guardian and holes in her school sweater. She doesn't think of herself as being all that pretty or smart. Especially not when comparing herself to her friends, Marianne & Delphine. Marianne is a smart, straight-A student. While Delphine is beautiful with fancy clothes sent by Delphine's mother from France.
Sophie wishes nothing more than to go about school unnoticed.
"Sophie put her head down, stared hard at the floor, and tried to make herself invisible. She knew she could get past most teachers without them really noticing she was there." (Pg. 8)
But at night, Sophie can escape her dull life and have wonderful adventures. Sophie dreams of Russia, wolves and her dead father trying to tell her something. How Sophie would long to have an adventure in Russia:
"When I wear that coat," Sophie rattled on, "I'm not plain old Sophie Smith... I feel like I'm some beautiful countess, running away from an empty life of parties and balls to find my destiny...with the Cossacks... and I am traveling across Russia wrapped in furs on a night train... and under my pillow"—she knew she sounded crazy, but she couldn't stop—"are a box of sugar mice and foil-wrapped chocolate cats with red sequins for eyes... and... a... p-pistol." (Pg. 14)
Sophie's dreams turn into a real-life adventure when a mysterious woman visits Sophie's boarding school and takes a special interest in her. At the request of the mysterious woman, Sophie and her friends, Marianne & Delphine, are added to the school holiday trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. But the trip is far from your typical school holiday. Sophie and her friends find themselves on a night train straight out of Sophie dreams heading to a mysterious destination. They arrive at a long forgotten palace and met with the beautiful Princess Anna. Sophie must uncover her mysterious connection to the palace and help Princess Anne find the lost royal family treasure.
Some Musings on:
The Wolf Princess
With each month's book review, I share with you some of my musings on the book. What I thought interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring, etc.
Middle Grade
I feel like with children's book it is so important for the writing and content to be age appropriate.
The Wolf Princess is a Middle-Grade novel and I thought the reading level, book length, and subject matter were all very appropriate for this age (about 11-13, according to the publisher.)
I was a little worried at the end when the book could have taken a very bloody turn, but Constable kept it appropriate. It reminded me a lot of children's movies where there is never any blood and the bad guys never actually die, they just fall off the cliff into the abyss or something.
Use of Foreign Language
I really enjoyed the use of foreign language in this book. When Sophie & her friends travel to Russia, they learn a few Russia words, mostly nouns or words like
"yes," "no," "thank you," "hello." Constable makes sure to define each Russian word that is used, and most of these Russian words get repeated numerous times, so the reader learns to recognize them.
The two dozen or so Russia words are also listed in a glossary at the back of the book, for easy reference.
Children's literature is filled with new words for the reader. So it is fine of introducing some new foreign words. It can add a lot of character to your writing, make it very memorable and helps to make the setting vivid. These Russian words made you feel like these characters are in Russia.
But you do want to be careful that you aren't making things too complex. The reason I rejected our original October Book Review was that I felt the language was inappropriate for the age range. The book was set in medieval times and used a lot of old words/ spellings/ variations that aren't used anymore. I just felt there were too many words that were going to be unfamiliar, unclear or confusing to the reader.
I don't have a problem with introducing the reader to new or foreign words, but do it sparingly and with purpose.
In
The Wolf Princess, Constable kept it fairly simple. She used Russian for a lot of proper names, especially when things were uniquely Russian. (E.g. Donivoi is a house spirit from Russian folklore). Proper Names are a great place to use foreign words. The reader just really needs to recognize it's a proper name and understand what it is referring to, without actually fully understanding what the name means.
The Wolf Princess also featured some French words used by Delphine, who is half French. This really helped me remember which of Sophie's two friends was which. Delphine is the French one, who is fashionable and gets clothes sent from her mother in Paris, France.
3 Distinct Characters
The main character of
The Wolf Princess is Sophie Smith. The story is told from her 3rd person, limited, point-of-view. But we also immediately introduced to her two best friends, Delphine & Marianne, who join her on this adventure in Russia. Constable does a good job of making each of these characters different and distinct. This is important as the reader needs to remember which one is which, especially in a 3rd person narrative, where your main character is not "I/me," but rather "Sophie/she/her."
The three characters give the reader someone they can identify with, or aspire to be. Sophie's two friends are sort of perfect in some way. Delphine is fashionable and beautiful. She spends a long time getting ready every morning. Delphine's family is wealthy, lives in France and is very cultured, so knows how to act around royalty. Marianne is a straight-A student and is very smart. Marianne cares little about her looks but makes up for that with her intellect. I think Delphine and Marianne represent some ideals that the reader may aspire to be someday, either really pretty or really smart.
On the other hand, our main character Sophie represents who is the reader is now. Sophie is a plain girl, who at first appears to be not really pretty or smart (or rich). And I think a lot of young readers can identify with her.
But through the course of the book, Sophie discovers what makes her special in her own unique way. And figures out that maybe she is pretty and smart (and rich).
Harry Potter Vibe
I thought the novel gave off a total Harry Potter vibe. The main character is a poor orphan, with a horrible guardian, and holes in her sweater. She attends a British boarding school with her two best friends. They go on this adventure, which includes a marvelous train ride, to this hidden world. And the novel has a lot of the same themes as the Harry Potter books: rags to riches, friendship, self-acceptance, "Magical" worlds, prophetic dreams, etc.
I looked into this a bit and I saw a number of articles making some connection to
The Wolf Princess & Harry Potter. And Constable, in
an article, refers to her character, Marianne, as
"a brainiac along the lines of Harry Potter’s Hermione." So, Constable definitely used the
Harry Potter books as part of her inspiration.
I think it is great to take inspiration from another book. That is part of why we do monthly book reviews so you and I can get inspired.
The Wolf Princess gives off those same warm fuzzy feelings I got while reading
Harry Potter, but at the same time, this is not a retelling of the
Harry Potter books. Constable was inspired by J.K. Rowling, but turned that inspiration into something of her own.
Bechdel Test
I was really glad to see this book passed the
Bechdel Test in a number of scenes. The Bechdel test looks at the portrayal of women in media. To pass the test, a work must meet 3 requirements:
- The work has to have at least two named women,
- who talk to each other,
- about something other than a man
While this doesn't seem too difficult to achieve, there are sadly still too many books and other media that fail this test. And while the portrayal of women important for all age groups, I think it is especially important for young girls.
Unclear genre
One thing that disappointed me was the unclear genre of the book. By first appearances, the book seemed like a fantasy. (But the copyright page categorized this book as a mystery.)
The Wolf Princess definitely had these touches of fantasy, but I felt it never quite satisfied the fantasy requirements. I was always waiting for some truly magical moment, but it never quite came. Sophie had these dreams about Russia and wolves, and then she ends up in Russia with wolves. And I wanted the dreams to be magical, which they sort of were, but not quite. Sophie had this connection to the Wolves and I wanted her to turn into one, or be able to speak to them. But it never happened. It was always on the cusp of magic, which was disappointing.
The book is categorized as a mystery, but it fails in that genre as well. There are some mysterious elements: Sophie's family history? Why were the girls brought to the palace? What happened to the lost family diamonds? What happened to the Princess and her child after the fleed the palace? etc. But It never felt like the characters were really trying to solve a mystery. They played a passive role. We found out the answers to those questions, but no one searched or uncovered them.
NaNoWriMo
As I hope most of you know, it is National Novel Writers Month (NaNoWriMo)! And I wanted to end by sharing with you an article from Constable on "
What would be your five top tips to budding writers?" written for NaNoWriMo in 2016. The article also features a reading from
The Princess Wolf.
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