• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

After saving her dog, Robin begins rescuing wild animals and she’s soon running an illegal animal shelter.

Short-listed for the 2012 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award and for the 2012 IODE Violet Downey Book Award
Twelve-year-old Robin will never get over her mother’s death. Nor will she forgive her father for moving the family to a small town to live with a weird grandmother. At her new school Robin is laughingly called "Green Girl" and is taunted relentlessly because of an award she received. She decides not to care about anyone or anything. But when her pregnant dog plunges into the frozen lake, she saves the dog and hence the puppies.
Robin finds she can’t stop herself from caring. She begins rescuing wild animals and rehabilitates them in the barn. Robin’s father forbids her to take in more, but she rescues some skunks, anyway, and hides them. Other animals arrive, and soon she’s running an illegal animal shelter. When she’s found out, Robin mounts a campaign to save her shelter. Will she have the courage to stand against the whole town?

Karen Hood-Caddy was born in Toronto and educated at Toronto schools. Although she lived in the city as a child, she spent her summers and as many weekends as possible at the family cottage in Muskoka. Her love of the wilderness and particularly of the Muskoka region of Ontario developed early and greatly influenced her entire life. Karen graduated from York University, where she was vice-president of the student’s council, with a degree in sociology. She began her career as a social worker in Toronto, but after several years, feeling jaded and burnt-out, she moved to Scotland. There she lived for seven years at the Findhorn Institute, an international spiritual community, where she was soon leading workshops in meditation and self-empowerment. Her experiences there and her extensive travels throughout India, Greece, Central Europe, Ireland, Morocco and the United States have proven to be important influences in her writing. As a writer, Karen has had poems, short stories and articles published in Canada, the United States and Scotland, but her real passion is for reading and writing novels. A few years ago, John Robert Columbo stated in the Globe and Mail that Karen Hood-Caddy was ”a writer to keep an eye on“. Karen currently lives in Muskoka. She still loves the wilderness and believes passionately in the importance of the preservation of our environment. The fact that she is able to live and work in Muskoka, one of the most beautiful regions in Canada, provides her with a continuing source of satisfaction and happiness.

Karen Hood-Caddy's profile page

• Short-listed, IODE Violet Downey Book Award
• Short-listed, CLA Book of the Year for Children Award

More than just an engaging story of a young girl growing back into strength after trauma, Howl presents the reader with a map both psychologically and logistically of how young people can grow towards maturity and efficacy within their world.

Resource Links

Hood-Caddy has created a believable scenario involving contemporary kids who do their best to deal with real-world problems... Give this satisfying and ultimately uplifting story to fans of Robin Stevenson's "Liars and Fools" (2010) or Kit Pearson's "A Perfect Gentle Knight" (2007).

Canadian Materials

Hood-Caddy's previous titles for adults focused on strong female protagonists against a backdrop of environmental issues, and Howl delivers a similar package, introducing young readers to a broad spectrum of ecology, animal rights, and political activism."

Quill & Quire