I could not stop talking about Gone Wolf as I was reading. I couldn’t finish on time for my holiday and so everyone I went with had to hear about this story. Sorry not sorry. Keep reading this book review of Gone Wolf for my full thoughts.
Summary
In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined — to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue — the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often – he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too―she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room.
In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered.
In this symphony of a novel, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, and empowers readers to remember their voices and stories are important, especially when they feel the need to go wolf.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Having loved Me (Moth), I was so excited for Gone Wolf. And it was 100% worth it. Gone Wolf almost immediately captivated me with its middle grade dystopia atmosphere a shade away from our own. A world with division, experimentation, and oppression. I only continued to fall deeper in love with Gone Wolf. Not to mention, there are some plot twists that legitimately had me gasping. I had to tell everyone about them. Ultimately Gone Wolf is a fabulous middle grade story that examines the effects of racism, privilege, and a divided society on kids.
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I also need to specially highlight the audiobook. This production is unmissable. Ariel Blake does a stunning job at infusing Gone Wolf with sensitivity, vulnerability, and ghosts. At the same time, the entire production team added elements which stopped me in my tracks and I had to stop doing the dishes to listen. Find Gone Wolf on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, Libro.fm, and Google Play.