1. Alienation
2. Book design
3. Courage
4. Fear
5. Friendship
6. Horror
7. Imagery
8. Language
9. Literary techniques
10. Mental health
11. Metaphors
12. Resilience
13. Self-reliance
14. Survival
15. Symbolism
16. Visual literacy
17. Wolves

The cover and endpapers of ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ are arresting and immediately engage the viewer. There is the title to ponder, a haunting jacket cover one liner — ‘they spare no won’ — plus endpapers that feature a scribbled animal in grey on glossy black. Prepare to wonder and question what this story is about as no answers are given and many interpretations are possible.

The language is unconventional in using phonetic spelling. There is also sophisticated figurative language, including rich metaphors and symbols to ponder. Young Ben tells this story as the first-person narrator using present tense. He lives ‘scrooched up in won room in a mustee basement’. He describes his world thus: ‘seesons are topsee-turvee’; the ‘sitee is hush’; the ‘traffic long-ago gon’. Ben tells the reader he has no more ‘fernicha to bern, veree littil food, not much water’. He is afraid to venture out. There appears to be only one other person, Missus Radinski, in his life, but she mysteriously disappears one day. The final page, when Ben discovers he is now without any human support, shows him ready to venture out. He directs the reader to ‘Joyn me’.

The book’s unusually large size immediately proclaims its difference. Illustrations are sketchy, indistinct and often lack detail. Pages are predominantly black with unsettling dark shades of red, orange, gold and dark green. Perspectives, lines and scribbles feature unusual angles, unsettling the reader and raising questions. ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ is multi-layered in text, story and illustrations. It can be variously interpreted and offers alternate readings.

1. Penguin Notes written by Pam MacIntyre for ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ https://docplayer.net/35092616-Woolvs-in-the-sitee-by-margaret-wild-and-anne-spudvilas.html
2. Front Street Books YouTube ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ 30 Jul 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y50NLfjhIz0
3. Kirkus Reviews 20 May 2010 ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/margaret-wild/woolvs-in-the-sitee/
4. Publishers Weekly 27 Aug 2007 review of ‘Woolvs in the Sitee’ https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781590785003
5. Gathering Books commentary 21 June 2011 by Myra Garces-Bacsal ‘Book Talk Tuesday: The Courage to Face One’s Fears — Woolvs in the Sitee by Margaret Wild and Anne Spudvilas’ https://gatheringbooks.org/2011/06/21/woolvs-in-the-sitee/
6. Anne Spudvilas website, biographical details https://annespudvilas.com/Meet-the-Artist~32