Seidler’s tale, narrated by the precocious Maggie and filled with her droll observations, brims with rivalries and treachery as well as selfless acts and unrequited love.Ī rich tale of the wild that quickens the pulse and fills the heart. She shares his joys and struggles as he is wounded by ranchers, finds a mate and a pack, settles back in Yellowstone, and sires and raises pups.

The two form a mutually useful relationship-Maggie locates game from her airy vantage point, and Blue Boy hunts it down-and Maggie sees no reason why she “shouldn’t accompany this amazing meal ticket on his journey.” As months slide into years, Maggie’s relationship with Blue Boy grows beyond food. She encounters the large wolf who saved her and discovers his name is Blue Boy and that he is making his way back to Canada after being forcibly relocated to Yellowstone National Park. After the death of her mentor, Jackson the crow, and a near-brush with a fox who, at the last moment, is scarfed up by a wolf, Maggie flies away from the ranch. Maggie the magpie, hatched in a pine tree on a ranch in Montana, is unimpressed with her parents’ lack of imagination in naming her Maggie and discontented overall with magpie life. Lamar wants to make his family happy, but is doing what is expected of him worth losing the only true friend he’s ever had?įull of bite and beauty that will make you think of White Fang, then Ferdinand, this story cuts to the heart of what’s most important: being true to yourself, and being true to others.A magpie who befriends a wolf tells their story. While the other infractions can be begrudgingly tolerated, this one cannot, and the unity of the pack is in jeopardy. Blue Boy grows increasingly dismayed at Lamar’s lack of wolf instincts, and then Lamar does the intolerable: he becomes attracted to a coyote. He has little interest in peacocking in front of other clans. He worries if his younger siblings fall behind in the hunt. But Lamar is not turning out the way his father hoped. Blue Boy, the alpha male of his pack, is the largest wolf many have ever seen, and his dream is to have a firstborn son who will take after him in every way. Born into rankings and expected to live up to their roles. A young wolf seeks the bravery to be himself in this lyrical homage to challenging societal stereotypes, from the author of National Book Award Finalist Mean Margaret and The Wainscott Weasel.

Firstborn tor seidler