Steven James Petruccio – illustratör

In a cozy, sheltered den in the woods, four Red Wolf puppies are born. Their parents and older brothers will nurture and teach them through the summer and fall, as they learn to mark, hunt, and howl. In a cabin not far away, a young widow named Sally Few cares for her five-year-old twins, Sarah and Will. A howl from the woods makes Sally uneasy, but the children respond with wonder to the Red Wolf’s song. With lyrical prose and lavishly detailed illustrations, Eileen Heyes, Anne Marshall Runyon, and Steven Petruccio bring these two families to life. Freedom’s Howl: The Song of the Red Wolves looks back to a time when Red Wolves were a top predator in what is now the southeastern United States. Today, Red Wolves are in trouble. They are the most critically endangered canid species in the world. A final section updates readers on the Red Wolves’ plight, offering advice on ways young people can help pull this uniquely American carnivore back from the brink of extinction.