A Song Dog Adventure
by Claire Gilchrist
Dundurn Press, 2021
ISBN 978-1-4597-4825-5 (sc)
$13.95, 203 pp, ages 9 – 12
dundurn.com
West Coast author, teacher, and wildlife educator, Claire Gilchrist, has written a sequel to her 2019 novel Street Shadows. Also aimed at middle schoolers, Lost Shadow follows the adventures of Pica and Scruff, two young coyotes learning to co-exist with human encroachment. Pica faces the greatest number of challenges—accidentally being taken cross-country in the back of a delivery truck, running into a mutilating leg hold trap, and being hunted by a pack of determined, angry wolves—but she miraculously makes her way home to Scruff and the familiar suburban ravines she has grown
up around. This anthropomorphic tale is actually based on solid scientific research concerning coyote life cycles, feeding patterns, and pack behaviour.
Classroom Connections: Lost Shadow is available in ePub and PDF versions as well, and young readers can follow the author’s various activities on Twitter (#LostShadow). The Dundurn Press website has a detailed 26-page downloadable teacher resource guide produced by two educators for a six-week book study. The guide includes summaries, questions/prompts, writing activities, and various related Ontario curriculum expectations (grades 4 to 8).
Review by George Sheppard.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2022 issue.