William Grill recently graduated from University College Falmouth, and currently works in London as a freelance illustrator. He works in predominately in coloured pencil, and has worked for a variety of clients such as Harrods, The New York Times, Shelter and NOBROW. William draws most of his inspiration from looking closely at what's around him, and from a young age has maintained a keen interest in dogs and the outdoors.
(Sonido de arpas, acá va una digresión: últimamente me subo a la azotea con la ropa sucia, echo una lavadora y llevo conmigo una lectura que considero que será ligera y feliz, para leer envuelta en el aroma a detergente, fin de la digresión, sonido de arpas de cierre.)
Me asombró la paleta de color, el rojo, el blanco, el negro. Me asombró la expresividad que el autor consigue con trazos que parecen sencillos. Me asombró tanto la manera en que narra la historia de la expropiación de tierras en una sola página, sin una sola palabra, con la punta chata de un par de lápices de madera. Me asombró la belleza, la sencillez, la ferocidad, la ternura de los lobos. Y, sobre todo ello, la ignorancia, la voracidad, el inútil deseo de redención.
The Wolves of Currumpaw will have you gasping in joy at its invention and shedding a tear in its telling. We find ourselves transported to New Mexico, 1893, to witness the story of a great wolf named Lobo, terror of the plains, and man’s desire to kill him.
* I was sent this for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review *
This is such a wonderful book, so wonderful in fact that it actually managed to make me a little emotional whilst reading it. This is a non-fiction, illustrated retelling of the Wolves who lived in Currumpaw. These wolves were forced to steal cattle to survive after humans had taken over their wilds, and so they became wary of the traps and snares that humans used. This is a real life story which is about a wolf and a man and the battle between the two which ended in reform. I found it truly moving and eye-opening, and genuinely lovely!
The illustrations within this book are quite simplistic at first glance, with coloured pencils being the main focus. I have to say, however, that some of the quirky layouts and wonderful poses for the animals and humans really brought this story to life. Grill clearly has a deep understanding about how to connect with the reader and also how to make them care for the little stick animals he depicts so well. I found that the energy and quality of those simple lines and poses made this whole book so wonderful.
As a whole, an excellent read and an informative one too. I learned all about the Wolves of Currumpaw, and found the story connected with me a lot more than I had thought it would. It was just marvellous and I would highly recommend this! 4*s
I read this book because it was on the shortlist for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal (the British counterpart to the ALA Caldecott). No, it didn't win, but being on the shortlist means it was in rarefied company. It was a lovely, thought-provoking book, one of those rare books which can be read by children and adults with equal interest. The pictures are done in an interesting way: there are series of very small scenes which advance the story line set into larger, often two-page, spreads that give a sense of the vast open landscapes of New Mexico, where most of the action takes place. Often the pictures are soft with a muted, limited range of color, but the story is sharp and clear. The book is a larger format, which lends itself to the sweeping landscapes. The story is a true one, a retelling of an account by Ernest Thompson Seton of his hunt for a legendary wolf, originally published in 1898. The wolf, Lobo, was a crafty leader of his pack whose territory had become so constrained with the encroachment of humans and their livestock, that he had resorted to hunting cattle. A high bounty was set for him as he evaded every attempt to trap or poison him. Ernest Thompson Seton had been living in New York, but had been raised in Canada and missed the wild landscapes of his youth. He was an artist, drawing wildlife, and a hunter. He often hunted wildlife in order to use the specimens for more detailed drawings. He read of the high bounty for Lobo and , having grown weary of city life, set off to try his hand. Lobo proved a real match for his wits. When he finally captured and killed Lobo's beautiful mate, a white wolf named Blanca, Seton experienced a change of heart. He used Blanca's body to finally capture and kill Lobo, but he felt enormous regret and ever after turned to conserving nature rather than destroying it. He went on to become one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. The story and pictures work together to totally immerse the reader. I know I shed a tear or two for the great Lobo and his Blanca.
Sometimes I read a book and it fills a space within me that I didn't realized had existed. This is a retelling of Ernest Thompson Seton's short story set in the fading days of the old west. The illustrations made me feel like I was free falling into this world where wolves and men clashed. Seton went on to found the Boy Scouts in the states hoping that it would inspire future generations to protect wildlife. Be prepared to shed a tear for Lobo and Blanca.
This is a lovely book for older kids who still like to pour over pictures and also like history. But fair warning that it's a tearjerker for those that love animals....
A superbly illustrated retelling of a story from Ernest Thompson Seton's Wild Animals I Have Known. An honest, compassionate and profoundly moving story with an excellent conservation message. Exceptional in every way.
“Pod koniec XV wieku, jeszcze przed przybyciem Europejczyków, około pół miliona wilków żyło na wolności w Ameryce Północnej”. Tymi słowami zaczyna się niezwykle oryginalna książka Williama Grilla, “Wilki z Nowego Meksyku”. Autor znany w Polsce już z - akurat niezbyt mi się podobającej "Wyprawy Shackletona” - w “Wilkach…” opowiada o dowodzonej przez mitycznego wilka Lobo watasze tych dzikich stworzeń, na którą pod koniec XIX wieku urządzono istną kampanię polowań. Górą w tym starciu był człowiek, a wraz z nastaniem kolejnego stulecia rozpoczęto próby odtworzenia wilczej populacji w Stanach Zjednoczonych i o tym również Grill wspomina. Jak widzicie akcja wydaje się być dość wątła, ale…
Na każdej ze stron “Wilków…” oprócz niezbyt rozbudowanego tekstu mamy obrazki - czasem są to ilustracje całostronicowe, czasem a’la komiksowe rysunki uzupełniające historię. Do tego ikony-piktogramy stosowane tak w funkcji ornamentu jak i narracji. Nieźle wykombinowane ale nie dające się łatwo lubić.
Po pierwszym przejrzeniu wydanej przez Kulturę Gniewu (tłumaczenie Agata Napiórska) książki stwierdziłem, że mi się ona nie podoba. Bo to takie koślawe i niezbyt czytelne się wydaje. I dalej potwierdzam - chwilami trzeba wysilić wzrok, ale to jak się później okazało jedna z większych przyjemności w obcowaniu z tą książką. Po trzech oglądaniach stwierdzam, że podoba mi się styl rysunku Williama Grilla, w którym pastele olejne sprawiają wrażenie dziecinności i prostoty rysunku nie tracąc przy tym głębi i umiejętnie budowanej atmosfery. Na warstwę narracyjną tego “picture booka” składa się bardzo wiele elementów stworzonych za pomocą kilku niby błahych pociągnięć pędzla, co trzeba smakować niespiesznie.
Czy to się przyjmie i sprzeda? Czy wam się spodoba? Bardzo odważna to decyzja wydawnicza, bo to książka piękna, trochę poetycka i niełatwa w odbiorze. Z “Wilkami z Nowego Meksyku” trzeba się trochę dłużej zaprzyjaźniać niż te kilka minut w księgarni przy przeglądaniu. A atrakcyjnej konkurencji nie brakuje. Dlatego może trzeba bardzo wyraźnie i bez wahania napisać - to książka, którą każda osoba wrażliwa na dobrą, oryginalną ilustrację powinna znać.
Read it first for the story. Although some people call it non-fiction, it is told in an appealing narrative style with action and adventure, a beginning, middle and end, and an appeal to the senses and emotions. Read it next for the information and learning. The evolution of the wolves, the way the west was settled and the conflict between the different factions, the real story and the way the people of the time lived through the struggle. Read the pictures (of which there is a glossary at the back). The story is so clearly told by use of panels and illustrations that it verges on graphic novel territory. The illustrations are a perfect representation of the west as both simple and complex. And then read it because... wolves. Because all books are about wolves.
This story just brought a tear to my eye during my break that I had to quickly blink away before starting work again. Done that many a time, I'm practically an expert now, but this one caught me off guard. I'd been meaning to read this for awhile, purely because the artwork caught my eye and the setting appealed to me. Its hard to believe now that I'd never heard of Ernest Thompson Seton before picking up this book (in one of the libraries I work in) but now I'll be sharing his history with all my animal-loving, environmentally conscious friends. And warning them that this book is a tearjerker..
A long story about how wolves were hunted in the United States and how an alpha wolf changed his killers heart. A sad but important story that shows the importance of wolves to nature and why we shouldn't hunt them to extinction.
Ernest Thompson Seton exemplified what John Burroughs called " the nature fakers," people who wrote anthropomorphized animal stories. In this attractive picture book, Seton learns a lesson from a wolf he's tracked, Lobo, a predator all the ranchers want dead. The illustrations get more stars, but the story, like Seton's own writing, is Boy Scout-y and a bit too didactic for me.
Té una manera de relatar i una línia d'il•lustració molt particular i ben trobada, pro no em sembla tant espectacular com per haver guanyat el bologna ragazzi award
Heel mooi boek gebaseerd op waargebeurde feiten. In de prairies van Nieuw Mexico trachten mannen de koning v/d wolven - Lobo - te vangen. Fragiel, fijne composities, krachtig in zijn eenvoud.
Hopla, update. Ik MOET dit boek nog een sterretje bijgeven! Hoe langer ik het boek bekijk, hoe meer fijne details ik ontdek! Prachtig! Ik wil direct het eerste boek van William Grill ook lezen, bekijken en bewonderen!
The illustrations aren't my favorite, but the story is a fascinating one. The conflict between Lobo, a cunning wolf and the men who tried to catch him was intriguing and rather sad. Too long to really be a picture book, especially since it's a true story, but an interesting book nonetheless. There is much here to discuss with young readers about the time and place and wolves in general.
Recommended from the Brainpickings blog, I bought this book for my niece and nephew and decided to take a look at it before sending it off. This is probably one of the most beautiful children's books I've seen and while the story is quite sad, the author's simple description of the resulting conservation movement is excellent. Combined with gorgeous pastel illustrations that symbolize the early plains of the western USA and provide an openness with which to take in such difficult concepts at a young age, I think this book should a be a staple introduction to ecology and conservation for a young reader.
This book would probably make the most sense for a 7 or 8- year old child though I think you easily expand that range based on maturity level and how many questions you're willing to entertain. I will certainly have this in mind as children's gift for many years to come.
This is a lovely book which is sure to win many hearts. It's a re-telling of Canadian naturalist Ernest Seton Thompson's 1898 story "Lobo, the King of Currumpaw". It's both a sad and heartwarming tale as it tells of Seton hunting down a wolf who was the scourge of New Mexico. It also tells how Lobo taught him respect for the wolf and he gave up hunting them thereafter. Incorporated into the story are the biographical account of Thompson's later life and the legacy he left behind to conservation. I really enjoyed this book and had looked forward to reading it as soon as I'd heard it was coming out. As a child I used to read Seton Thompson's stories, getting them out of the school library over and over again.
Opowieść o Setonie i Lobo była mi wcześniej znana i zawsze uważałam, że jest to wręcz baśniowa historia, z pięknym morałem i wspaniałymi bohaterami. Bardzo się cieszę, że sięgnęłam po wersję tak bogato i niesamowicie ilustrowaną - to piękna książka. Wiliam Grill potrafi opowiadać, zarówno słowem - którego, choć nie ma tu wiele, to jest wystarczająco, jak i obrazem - przenikliwym, chłodnym, pociągłym, niby skromnym, ale przez to mocnym. Ilustracje na całe strony, połączone z często jednym, lecz silnym w treść zdaniem - tak, to robi wrażenie. Sama historia, jak już wspomniałam, ma wyjątkowy, baśniowy smak. Niezwyciężony, potężny, silny wilk Lobo i myśliwy, również osławiony swym sprytem - te dwie "dusze" naprzeciw siebie... szokująco wspaniała mieszanka. Lobo był wilkiem starym i mądrym. Nie dało się go przechytrzyć zwykłą pułapką. Tam, gdzie wyczuwał człowieka, wyczuwał też podstęp. Saton nieraz przekonał się o jego inteligencji... i wreszcie podszedł go, wymyślił niezawodną broń - miłość... Och! Wszyscy przecież z nią ostatecznie przegrywamy. Oczywiście wilki to zwierzęta bardzo niebezpieczne, które potrafią być bezwzględne i bez pewnej kontroli w niektórych regionach mogłyby sprawić, że inne gatunki zwierząt przestałby istnieć... lecz im również ochrona się należy. Zwłaszcza, że wilka w US w opisywanym okresie praktycznie wytrzebiono. Są one potrzebne nie tylko nam, byśmy je podziwiali, ale przede wszystkim przyrodzie, która w naturalny sposób się równoważy. Ludzie mają w zwyczaju przesadę, brak kontroli, chodzenie o jeden krok za daleko... tylko czasem ten jeden krok - to wszystko. Saton zrozumiał, nauczył się od Lobo pokory. Ten wilk okazał się jego mistrzem wiedzy o dzikiej naturze rzeczy - bo w każdym z nas jest trochę wilka. Dla mnie to jedna z najpiękniejszych opowieści o MIŁOŚCI. Mamy tu prawdziwą opowieść, prawdziwy romans i prawdziwą siłę uczucia, z którym nigdy nie powinno się walczyć. Wzruszająca, wspaniale zilustrowana książka, która mówi zarówno o pięknie przyrody, jak i o sile związku, mocy przywiązania i niemożności życia bez partnera. Tak... serce zostaje złamane, ale bohater zwycięża. "WILKI z Nowego Meksyku" Williama Grilla, to spektakularnie wydana książka, która ma w sobie wszytko, co najważniejsze - mądrą treść, ponadczasową prawdę, klimatyczne obrazy, mocny tekst i wybitnie piękną oprawę. POLECAM!
prawdziwa miłość nie umiera - ona tylko zapada w sen, by wiecznie śnili o niej inni 8/10 krótkie gatki Wydawnictwo Kultura Gniewu
Wow. Just... wow. I picked up this book on a whim the other day and I’m so glad I did! It is absolutely beautifully illustrated and moved me to tears.
William Grill takes the story of Lobo, the notorious wolf king terrorizing ranchers in New Mexico, and weaves in a beautiful story of love, respect, and appreciation for nature. Expanding on Ernest Thompson Seton’s writings, Grill brings the short story to life with some of the most stunning illustrations I’ve ever seen. With minimal colours used, his illustrations are the showcase of the book. A few spreads have no text, and are just gorgeous full page pieces of art. It was one of those pages that, upon turning the page and seeing a full page illustration of Lobo running through the dark New Mexico desert, brought tears to me eyes for the beauty and power of this story. I want the art from this text to be hanging on the walls of my house!
A truly gorgeous rendition of a heartbreaking story, The Wolves of Currumpaw takes you back to a time when nature conservation was unheard of, and has you following along intently for the entire text. I would strongly recommend this for anyone looking for a beautiful book to add to their collection!
Somewhat buried in this beautifully illustrated—seriously, when did crayon smudging get so sophisticated?—retelling of the history of U.S. conservation lies one of the darker, more insidious sides of human nature: the overwhelming need to conquer the wild, destroy what we cannot understand, and exert our unearned dominion over the planet.
And while the author doesn’t necessarily shy away from these things—this book is for children, after all—the reader is still left holding the bag at the end, circling around the unanswerable question of what, exactly, is the price of relieving regret? This question is a frustrating one, especially in this context and in this history, when we’re meant to give grace to the man who, as depicted here, took something sacred that was never his, “paying it forward” in such a way that now partially protects wilderness and wolf populations across the country. Is that enough? Is that debt repaid?
El libro nos cuenta la historia de Seton- un experimentado cazador- y Viejo Lobo. La historia de cacería ambientada a finales del siglo XIX en el lejano oeste, nos muestra cómo un lobo cambió la vida del cazador.
La historia es sencilla y toda la emotividad se la lleva la ilustración, hecha con rayones de lápices de colores, agreste como la historia que presenta. La edición es un lujo y el libro es absolutamente bello.
No les voy a mentir, lloré leyéndolo. Tengo un cierto amor por los lobos y su increíble inteligencia, fue muy duro leer una historia de cacería y hubo un par de momentos demasiado tristes. Odié a Seton, y a pesar del cambio que tiene como personaje, lo que hizo durante tantos años me parecía imperdonable. Sin embargo, supongo que tuvo que llegar a los extremos para poder abrir los ojos.
I'm beginning to think I need to be on the look out for Flying Eye Book publications. I love their focus on melding wonderful illustration with interesting text. Here we're told of the clash of wills between Earnest Thompson Seaton (one of the founding members of the Boy Scouts) and Lobo, the King of Currumpaw, leader of a wolf pack that's terrorizing ranchers in the late 1800s. It's a clash that changed Seaton for ever and helped to spur on nature conservation.
Grill also has a book very similar in format that recounts Shackleton's final journey on The Endurance, which I highly recommend. Shackleton's story has a lot more detail to dig into, but both stories are well told in in both pictures and text.
Just too sad and rather disappointing pictures. I know the point of the story is that the hunter Seton was reformed by his experience and became a conservationist and woodcraft folker, but for me, the whole level of brute force that was exercised to destroy these few wolves, literally hundreds of traps and finally baiting with the hero-wolf's mate! Just too disgusting for words. And clearly only a true single example of what white European industrial power did to North America, Australia and New Zealand in a few short decades of the end of the 19th century. Too sad for words. How can this be an unironic children's picture book? Extraordinary!
What? The story of Ernest Thompson Seton hunting the wolf Lobo, based on his own account: how he was a lover of nature and a hunter by trade, and how the experience with Lobo -- a smart wolf who seemingly died of a broken heart after being captured and having his mate killed -- turned him into a supporter of wolves.
The drawings are, as far as I can tell, just pencil, and done in a simple and occasionally impressionistic style.
Yeah, so? Kinda loved the art, and of course I got teary at the end, when we hear about Seton's legacy of other environmentalists who see a place for wolves in the world.