British author Michelle Paver has a winning fantasy series in Chronicles of Ancient Darkness .  The series begins with Wolf Brother followed by Spirit Walker, Soul Eater and the recently released The Outcast. 

The first book, Wolf Brother, is on this year’s Rebecca Caudill list.  (The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award is for Illinois students in grades 4-8.)   As a member of the RCYRBA steering committee and as a K-8 librarian who promotes the award heavily in my three schools, I predict that Wolf Brother, a fast paced and likeable survival story, is going to be a very popular title among this year’s 20 nominees. 

The action in Wolf Brother starts immediately as the main character, Torak, and his father encounter a demon possessed bear.  Torak is quickly (and unwillingly) thrust into a preordained quest to defeat this bear as it begins threatening all the clans.  Torak rescues a wolf pup who becomes his friend and, perhaps, spirit guide.  Bits of the narrative are from Wolf’s perspective as Wolf tries to understand Torak whom he calls Tall Tailless.  Indeed it is Wolf’s views of the world along with the prehistoric tribal setting that makes this series very fresh and unique.  With a fairly uncomplicated plot and characters, this is fantasy light for young readers. 

Paver is smart!  The setting and situations feel like North American Natives in ancient Norway to me… but it is purely from Paver’s imagination.  This series, as pure fantasy, is not subject to criticism by any people or culture group.  Again, smart author!

Because I read so much YA fiction in my profession, it is rare that I read adult novels.  It is also rare, because of my terribly sequential brain, that I will read more than one book at a time; I always read a book and finish before moving on to the next.  But friends convinced me, since I recently completed a graduate degree, that I should reward myself by diverging and reading the adult novel, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.  I did enjoy it (although it made me feel like I need to return for a degree in English Literature) and I happily began the second in that series.  However, a couple of nights ago at bedtime, too lazy to retrieve my Fford book from the living room, I broke my “one-book-at-a-time” rule and started reading Paver’s Soul Eater (more conviently located in my bedside to-read stack).  What is it about YA fiction that makes it impossible to put down?  And why don’t adult novels share it? 

Spirit Walker was just as action packed as Wolf Brother.  Torak reminds me of the young Luke Skywalker; both have determination, strength of character, and unexplained (and unexplored) powers along with a destiny that is slowly being revealed through the series.  Fforde is fforgotten as I now must ffinish The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness!  Thursday Next may or may not be next in the to-read stack…