• Age: 12 to 15
• Grade: 7 to 10
• Reading age: 12 to 15

Life is changing for Canada’s Anishnaabek Nation and for the wolf packs that share their territory.

In the late 1800s, both Native people and wolves are being forced from the land. Starving and lonely, an orphaned timber wolf is befriended by a boy named Red Wolf. But under the Indian Act, Red Wolf is forced to attend a residential school far from the life he knows, and the wolf is alone once more. Courage, love and fate reunite the pair, and they embark on a perilous journey home. But with winter closing in, will Red Wolf and Crooked Ear survive? And if they do, what will they find?

Jennifer Dance was born in England and holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Animal Science from the University of the West Indies. She migrated to Canada in 1979. With family in the Native community, Jennifer has a passion for equality and justice for all people. Her first novel, Red Wolf, was endorsed by Giller Prize–winning author Joseph Boyden. An avid environmentalist, Jennifer lives on a small farm in Stouffville, Ontario.

 

Jennifer Dance's profile page

• Short-listed, MYRCA Awards
• Short-listed, Silver Birch Award
• Runner-up, Moonbeam Children's Book Awards
• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens

Dance's first novel addresses a horrific historical period and details Red Wolf's harsh awakening in painful, hard-hitting scenes . . . readers will finish with a strong sense of the abuses suffered by natives at the hands of settlers.

Publishers Weekly

This book should be placed in every classroom in Canada. It is informative of our cultural way of life, and respectful of all creation. There are things that non-natives do not understand about our culture. This book will help with the understanding.

Chief Arnold General, Confederacy Chief from the Onondaga tribe, Six Nations

Red Wolf offered a realistic portrayal of what life might have been like in a residential school and the subsequent fallout of generations of children who don't know who they are. It was a good read, but a heartbreaking one.

Book Time

Although Red Wolf is marketed as juvenile fiction, it is a book that will appeal to all ages. Poignantly written from the perspective of both boy and wolf, it brilliantly encapsulates the fear, alienation and hopelessness felt by a child who is powerless against a system which seeks to annihilate his heritage, spiritual beliefs and family ties.

Stouffville Free Press

The Dickensian world of any nineteenth-century boarding school, particularly a Canadian Indian residential school with the agonizing clash of indigenous and British cultures, is excellent fodder for Dance’s powers of portrayal, and she gives a memorable picture of those who worked in these institutions.

Resource Links

With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness … and I'm deeply impressed.

Joseph Boyden, Giller Prize–winning author

Told with great empathy and careful research, Jennifer Dance has done a good job of making us feel alienated, lost, and in between worlds ... an important book for young readers about the sad history of Canada's residential school system.

Philippa Dowding, author of The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Dance puts a human face to the history books by portraying the terror and confusion of a young boy ripped away from his family and forced to conform to the rules of a cruel and bigoted world he doesn't understand. What is especially impressive is how Dance manages to capture the internalized self-hatred forced upon the students of the residential schools.

Bookshelf Reviews

Red Wolf depicts an unquestionably shameful part of our history about which today’s children should be informed. The novel serves that purpose while reinforcing our feelings of outrage and disgust.

Quill & Quire

Dance imbues the novel with lyrical prose and lilting rhythms, and the essence of what we’ve come to recognize in First Nation storytelling.

Canadian Children’s Book News

Children and young adults alike will want to read Jennifer Dance's novel on the intertwined stories of a wolf and a First Nation boy. It is exactly the sort of story I loved when I was a boy.

James Bartleman, Former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

Jennifer Dance's Red Wolf is a heartrending, relentlessly compelling novel about the impact of the Indian Act of 1876 and the residential schools system upon indigenous cultures.

Canadian Materials

While the topic is a difficult one, [Red Wolf] covers the realities faced by First Nations in the late 1800’s in a realistic and broad-minded manner.

Anishinabek News

This book could make a big impact on the way that non-aboriginals look at First Nations people.... I strongly believe it also has a place in healing the legacy of the residential schools within First Nations communities where lack of self identity and self respect still endure.

Judith Ennamorato, author of Sing the Brave Song

Captivating story

by mattmohammed

Red Wolf had me captivated from start to finish. The relationship between the boy and the wolf provided a sense of hope during this extremely painful time in the young boys life. This sad part of Canadian history was represented beautifully by Dance in Red Wolf.

An excellent read for both young and old

by tarmoha

An educational, beautifully-worded and descriptive tale of a dark chapter in Canadian history, seen through the eyes of a young boy who is placed in a residential school and forced to assimilate.