Wolf pups join the pack by American Museum of Natural History (Neil Duncan)

So, this book is about as good as any group project - which is to say, a bit bland. But, it is a decent example of a purely expository text and has a good layout.

The text starts with the pups a few weeks old, once they have fur and are ready to start venturing out of the den. The book follows the pups as they nurse, explore their family, and are fed by their parents. Various family groups are shown and there are lots of cute wolf pups playing, feeding, and tussling in the grass. Adult behavior is shown through their interaction with the pups and the behavior the pups are learning like howling and running with the pack.

Each page is a mix of blocks of text with pastel backgrounds and pictures of wolves demonstrating the behavior or attribute discussed in the text. The book ends with the pups as young wolves, not yet ready to go out on their own and still sticking together. Over the course of the book, the scenes move from spring to winter, as the pups mature. The only back matter is a "meet the expert" note from Neil Duncan, who presumably supervised the book.

So, this isn't necessarily the type of book one would hold up as an example of the genre. There are no sources, there isn't even a single author. The writing is rather clunky and dry. BUT it's still not a bad book! It's got lots of great pictures of wolves, the text and photographs have an excellent layout that matches up the behavior with what is described in the text, and for kids who prefer expository nonfiction (and like wolves) this is a perfect choice.

Verdict: While I wouldn't recommend this for storytime, it's a good book for school projects or for kids who want to learn more about wolves.

ISBN: 9781454922377; Published 2017 by Sterling; Borrowed from another library in my consortium