I'm Back!!!

Hi All. After dealing with life, death, health, and family issues, I'm back and blogging. Over the next few months, I'll be telling you about new picture and illustrated middle grade books as well as graphic novels.

This post is about a set of books, Rose Wolves by Natalie Warner. It is, to date, a series of two books, "Book 1 Rose Wolves" (published 2023 by IDW) and "Book 2 Rose Wolves: Out of the Blue" (published in 2025 by IDW). They are wordless graphic novels for kids 4-12. The first book is told in sepia tone, the second in a blue tone. They are about loneliness, disability, and companionship.

In Book 1, a little girl with a deformed arm l wakes up and gets ready for her day.  We notice on her dresser, 2 photos (we can't quite make out), a vase with a single flower, shells (it is hard to make out), and a key. She gets ready, and leaves her house, heading to the woods where she finds a plant/flower (we focus on it because it is green and the GN is illustrated in a sepia tone). All of sudden the girl falls down a steep hill onto a bush. Nearby she finds a cave.  She enters the cave and finds more of those green plants - in a clump. It's flowering. She takes one of the flowers and leaves the cave and heads home.  

Overnight the flower grows and breaks the bud vase. When the girl wakes up there is a small black wolf pup on her bed. We soon see he is missing a leg, much like the girl whose left arm is truncated.  It's tail looks like the flower. They play together and explore the cave where the sprig was found and eventually the wolf finds others like her. The wolf stays in the cave with its family and the girl comes to visit.

BOOK 2  Rose Wolves Out of the Blue, IDW 2025

Now the girl is excited to share her discovery (the rose bush wolf) with her mom but as the seasons change and the forest falls asleep for winter, the world of the rose wolves must change as well.  Ahead of them lie new problems, new discoveries, and new friends.

The second book is in tones of blue.

The girl is in her house, in bed.  She wakes up and looks at her calendar. It's the end of the month and she's happy about that, The girl enters her Mom's room.  Mom brushes the girl's hair. They pack a backpack with binoculars, a notebook, pen, blanket, camera, gum, snack.  They also pack a basket with a chess board, cards, candies.  They take their things and go for a walk in the woods. The girl is excited to share her discovery of the rose bush wolf with her Mom.

Time passes and again the girl and Mom go out.  They head to the cave where they find the rose bush dying - it has no leaves or flowers.  The girl is upset and her mom comforts her.  She finds a small plant. They take it home and put it in a flower pot which they keep near the girl's bed.  The girl is still sad.  Her mom splits a cupcake with her.  Mom takes the plant and grafts it to another one.  As time passes, Mom is knitting a long scarf. Time continues to pass and we see the plant thriving and blossoming. A new  wolf is back in her house.  They make a bed for the wolf.  It's Christmas.  The mom and girl pack a backpack and basket and they camp out near the cave.  More of the wolves are there. They celebrate.  and are happy. 

Impressions and teachable moments: These books are lovely and heart-warming. That said, I found some of the images hard to understand. I think these hard-to-understand images are wonderful teaching opportunities - teaching about communication and how fragile it is sometimes. It is also a wonderful opportunity to discuss the challenges of creating graphic novels, especially wordless ones. What could the author have done to help us? Why is it often hard to understand? Why and in what ways is communication fragile. These are some of the discussion questions this book raises - along with it's heart-warming story,

I hope you find this helpful. Please feel free to share your own opinions in the comments, and come back soon for another post.