This one is 2.5 for me. Sometimes the transition from present day to past is a bit jarring, and having a diary entry before the story starts as well as not including important parts of the diary left me a little disconcerted. Amelia is short for age and nervous around dogs or strangers, and even though her family is staying with relatives for Christmas, she doesn't feel comfortable. Her cousin Tom seems intent on teasing and judging her, and his big dog, Freddie, scares her with his size and relentless friendliness. Seeking a safe place where she can just be alone, Amelia stumbles on a small room where she finds a boy's clothing and a journal written in the wintery month of October in 1873. As she reads the entries, she falls asleep and awakens to find herself in the barn of Noah, a budding artist who sketches scenes of nature and is hiding a wolf pup from his father and neighbors. Amelia becomes just as concerned about the baby as Noah and overcomes her fear about dogs in order to keep it safe until they can reunite it with its mother. At one point, she and Frost, the wolf, are stranded by a blizzard and seek refuge in a hollow tree. When Amelia returns from the trip to the past, she has a very different attitude toward Freddie and toward life. Plus, there's quite a surprise waiting for her. Youngsters will be drawn in by the edge-of-your-seats tension present in this story since it's not clear that Frost or his mother will survive, and while some of the human and wolf behavior seems rather unlikely, they'll probably still be drawn in by the events in the story. From my own experience, winter blizzards don't usually arrive with consistency until later in the year, but there are always exceptions to the rule. The black-and-white sketches are a helpful addition to the story.