Cover of The Wolf Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E Y Stemple

History Mystery: The Wolf Girls

THE WOLF GIRLS

Written with Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Illustrated by Roger Roth

Simon & Schuster 2001

ISBN# 689810806 S&S hardcover

The History Mystery series:

This book, about two feral children found in India in the 1920s and brought to an orphanage, is the second in a series of real-life unsolved mysteries for kids which I have written with my daughter Heidi Stemple. The first, The Mystery of the Mary Celeste, has been well received.

I have been fascinated by the story of the Midnapore wolf children for years, having written an sf story (“Wolf/Child” published in Twilight Zone magazine), a novel (Children of the Wolf) and two poems (“The Wild Child” in Parabola magazine, and “The Wild Child’s Lament” in Dragon Night and Other Lullabies.) I have also included material about feral children in one of the essays–“Wild Child/Feral Child”–in my book, Touch Magic. So you can see it has been a bit of an obsession.

For more information on feral children see the feral children web site.

Wolf Girls was a nominee for the 2004 Great Lakes Great Books award, grades 4 and 5.

See what Heidi has to say about this book.

What reviewers have said:

  • “Tasty fodder for emerging detectives.” — School Library Journal
  • “(T)he subject is fascinating, one with immediate kid appeal.”.– Booklist
  • “The Wolf Girls is a lively detective story, a well-told “mystery from history” that encourages young readers to come up with their ownsolutions.” — New York Times
  • “… accessible and fascinating, and fans of unsolved mysteries will enjoy turning back and forth through the pages of this one.” — Kirkus

Available in hard cover.