Ingrid and the Wolf Book

Like all of us, Ingrid wants to belong, especially to a family. Now, she does have parents whom she loves very much, but she has a sense that there is more to her past than she’s been told. When the opportunity presents itself for her to visit Hungary, Ingrid takes it despite her parents’ objections.

What she finds in the old country is enchanting, gorgeous, and terrifying. Her legacy is nothing like she expected. It is a creature that is, by turns, loving and vicious. It is a wolf.

Ingrid realizes that she is the caretaker of her unusual inheritance, like it or not.

Award-winning author André Alexis delivers his storytelling skills to a new generation of readers in this, his first children’s book.

Janice DeLong - Children's Literature

Ingrid Balazs seems to be an ordinary eleven-year-old, frustrated by the fragility of middle-grade friendships and somewhat shackled by the overprotective nature of her father. Being poor and without technical skills, Ingrid's father, Sandor, works as a gardener, and her mom, Krysztina, serves as cleaning lady for a wealthy lawyer. Ingrid has felt for some time that her father is harboring a deep secret that, if revealed, will greatly change the little family. When Sandor receives a letter from the Old Country, the mystery begins to unfold. His mother, a grandmother completely unknown to Ingrid, wishes to meet her granddaughter. The letter is signed by Countess Liliane Montesquieu von Puffdorf di Turbino de la Louve des Balzas. Ingrid's father is solidly opposed to such a meeting, until his daughter begins to have recurring dreams of a talking wolf who addresses her as "Your Highness." Sandor becomes reconciled to Ingrid finding her own destiny, and allows her to go and meet her enigmatic grandmother. Middle readers will be intrigued with Ingrid's journey to self-discovery, and delighted with the adventure which accompanies her across two cultures. 2005, Tundra Books, Ages 10 to 12.