The Wolf Keepers

Starred review from August 1, 2016
Twelve-year old Lizzie loves living at a California wildlife park (her father is head zookeeper), knowing she gets to do things that “no other kid ever got to experience.” After she meets Tyler, a foster home runaway who has been hiding out at the zoo, he tells her about what happens there at night, including a mysterious visitor to the new Wolf Woods exhibit who may be making the wolves sick. Broach’s (the Superstition Mountain series) intrepid protagonists engage in sleuthing expeditions, first to determine the cause of the wolves’ illness and then to discover the location of John Muir’s lost cabin in Yosemite—moments Ratteree (Lilliput) captures in evocative pencil illustrations of human interactions with the natural world. Lizzie’s choice to follow Tyler into the wilderness (“He’d been left too often in the past, and the past was a thing you carried with you all the time, like a burr stuck to your heel”) offers just one example of the ways Broach’s characters wrestle with ethical questions throughout this gratifying, thought-provoking tale. Ages 9–14. Author’s agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Illustrator’s agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary.

July 15, 2016
Zookeepers' daughter Lizzie has a memorable summer before seventh grade, as she befriends an intriguing boy, emulates John Muir, and investigates the mystery of suddenly sickened wolves at the John Muir Wildlife Park in Lodisto, California.As the author's note confirms, characters and setting are fictional, but much of the material in the text--including fascinating information about wildlife, John Muir, some spunky 19th-century women, and Yosemite National Park--is factual and well-integrated into the story. Lizzie and her father, Mike, both white, live literally on zoo grounds, in a house that includes a guest apartment. African-American Tyler has run away from his foster home and has been living outdoors, behind the elephant house. Lizzie secretly hides him in the guest apartment right around the time that the first wolf of the seven at the new Wolf Woods exhibit sickens and dies. Lizzie feels stricken when her favorite wolf, Lobo, apparently suffers the same fate. Or does he? Despite the fast pace of Lizzie and Tyler's adventure--which climaxes in a harrowing 48 hours alone together at Yosemite--the text includes plenty of philosophical questions about animal rights and about relationships of all kinds. Tyler's wry comments about his race add further dimensions to a thoughtful, well-told tale, as do the pencil drawings. John Muir's spirit hums along under a well-developed plot with likable characters. (Adventure. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

dictionary - I picked up this book randomly, and I wasn't even predicting this would be a good book. Twelve-year-old Lizzie Durango and her dad have always had a zoo to call their home. A typical day for Lizzie would be at the zoo, writing in her notebook about the wolves. Everything was fine until Tyler comes along. Tyler Briggs is a runaway who hides in the zoo. He was hiding behind the elephants' cage until Lizzie found him. He had tried to steal the food of a grandmother and her 2 grandchildren. They soon become friends, and Lizzie lets him stay at her apartment. Lizzie's mother passed away when she was just born. Tyler ran away. Tyler stays there until Lizzie's dad finds out he was there. He says it's not safe for him, but Lizzie says it's fine. They go on a camping trip in Karen's truck. They find out she's behind all the wolves getting sick. They also want to find John Muir's lost cabin. Will they stop her and find John Muir's cabin? I rate this book 5/5 and recommend it to camping lovers.

September 15, 2016
Grades 4-6 Twelve-year-old Lizzie and her dad live near Yosemite National Park at the zoo he directs, the John Muir Wildlife Park. Keeping a Muir-related summer journal as a school assignment, Lizzie records her observations of the park's seven wolves. Soon she discovers Tyler, a biracial boy who has been secretly sleeping on the grounds since running away from his foster family. Initially prickly, he comes to trust his new friend. When several wolves become ill, Lizzie and Tyler team up to investigate the cause. Unexpectedly, they end up spending a couple of nights on their own in Yosemite. Part friendship story, part mystery, and part survival adventure, this engaging chapter book makes the most of its two unusual settings. Attractive drawings illustrate the text, while a two-page map offers a bird's-eye view of Yosemite Valley. Information about Muir and quotes from him are scattered throughout the book, and the appended author's note also discusses the naturalist. Fans of Broach's Superstition Mountain trilogy will want to try her latest, with its western locale and intriguing jacket illustration.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)