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Howl
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Maggie has had a very bad day.
First of all, the sun was the wrong shape, in a sky that was too blue. The spaghetti was too long, and her pyjamas were the wrong kind of pyjama.
Then Maggie begins to have wolfish thoughts ...
Maggie has had a very bad day.
First of all, the sun was the wrong shape, in a sky that was too blue. The spaghetti was too long, and her pyjamas were the wrong kind of pyjama.
Then Maggie begins to have wolfish thoughts ...
32 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 2020
1 person is currently reading
63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
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March 3, 2021In Howl Patrick’s warm storytelling style is beautifully enriched by Barrow’s bright, textured pencil drawings. Scribble has consistently put out fantastic children’s books since its launch in late 2016 and Howl is no exception. This is exactly the kind of gorgeous, imaginative, giftable picture book that booksellers will find themselves recommending far and wide come the lead-up to Christmas.
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
August 6, 2021
What to do with all of those big feelings on a day when nothing goes right. Lovely for SEL lessons.
Read
December 4, 2022A beautiful book with amazing and illuminating illustrations. The book follows the day in the life of a girl - a female led story. The story breaks traditional stereotypes of girls not being able to portray/voice their anger. And this book does exactly that, with the support of her mother in single-parenthood Maggie is able to address the anger she is feeling and express in her own unique way - experiencing energetic wolf feelings.
The soft art style with the use of coloured pencils, chalk pastel, wax crayon, as well as digital drawing and retouching. Some of the crosshatching really translates to the reader these unpredictable emotions Maggie is feeling.
There is some connotations to the character of Max in Where the Wild Things Are, even to the use of dancing under the moonlight to relieve the stress and uncertainty these children are feeling. There is also links between the use of wild and angry emotions compared to being wild and angry.
Throughout the books many themes are explored. Including single-parenthood, self-love, acceptance, wolves and anger. These themes are apparent and can allow children to understand why they may feel the way they feel sometimes and this is completely acceptable.
There are many grammar elements in the book including a variety of punctation, conjunctions, adverbs and time adverbs which is really helpful to children to understand why the use of these can be important in stories.
The soft art style with the use of coloured pencils, chalk pastel, wax crayon, as well as digital drawing and retouching. Some of the crosshatching really translates to the reader these unpredictable emotions Maggie is feeling.
There is some connotations to the character of Max in Where the Wild Things Are, even to the use of dancing under the moonlight to relieve the stress and uncertainty these children are feeling. There is also links between the use of wild and angry emotions compared to being wild and angry.
Throughout the books many themes are explored. Including single-parenthood, self-love, acceptance, wolves and anger. These themes are apparent and can allow children to understand why they may feel the way they feel sometimes and this is completely acceptable.
There are many grammar elements in the book including a variety of punctation, conjunctions, adverbs and time adverbs which is really helpful to children to understand why the use of these can be important in stories.
August 23, 2024
What a touching tale, great art, great lesson. HOWWWWWWWWWWL 🐺
September 30, 2020
What I really enjoyed about this book is how it shows young children that it is OK to have strong emotions and that sometimes you just need to let out a big howl! The story begins with a young girl named Maggie who is just not having a good day. She seems to think the sun is the wrong shape, the sky is too blue, the spaghetti for dinner is too long, and the squiggles she is drawing are either too squiggly or not squiggly enough. We soon understand that, for Maggie, it is one of those days where nothing is going right. She reluctantly goes up to bed, but things seem to get even worse. She loses her two front teeth and sprouts fangs in their place. She also starts to grow itchy little hairs and her hands form into small paws. Now Maggie has a sudden urgency to go outside and howl to the moon--she tries, but nothing comes out. Meanwhile, her mother is inside the house and she is also having the same transformation as Maggie. Her mother joins her in the backyard and lets out a huge howl. Maggie is impressed, so her mother teaches her how to let it all out--all the pent-up emotions Maggie is feeling. After they howl for a bit, Maggie and her mother enjoy all kinds of wonderful “wolfy” activities in the yard. They prowl in laps around the garden, search for tiny creatures among the plants, and smell the wonderful scents floating in the night air. By the end of their adventures, both Maggie and her mother feel so much better and Maggie is ready for bed.
The illustrations provided by Evie Barrow are perfect for this story. She completely captures the anger and frustration that Maggie is feeling through facial expressions and gestures. When Maggie and her mother exhibit wolfy features, the reader can see the shadowy silhouette of a wolf following their movements throughout the night. Through the illustrations, the reader can clearly see that Maggie is not really turning into a wolf because her fangs, bristly hair, and clenched paws are completely gone when she is with her mother in the backyard. It is simply a way to show how strong emotions can make you feel sometimes.
This story is perfect for children between the ages of three and seven years old. I think it is a great way to show children that their feelings are validated and sometimes they just need to get something out of their system.
The illustrations provided by Evie Barrow are perfect for this story. She completely captures the anger and frustration that Maggie is feeling through facial expressions and gestures. When Maggie and her mother exhibit wolfy features, the reader can see the shadowy silhouette of a wolf following their movements throughout the night. Through the illustrations, the reader can clearly see that Maggie is not really turning into a wolf because her fangs, bristly hair, and clenched paws are completely gone when she is with her mother in the backyard. It is simply a way to show how strong emotions can make you feel sometimes.
This story is perfect for children between the ages of three and seven years old. I think it is a great way to show children that their feelings are validated and sometimes they just need to get something out of their system.
October 6, 2020
This is such a great read for Halloween. Maggie is feeling...well, something. She doesn't know what. But that full moon makes her feel like wolf! Maybe a werewolf. And she just wants to go out and do...something about those big emotions. And that's where mom comes in and helps her figure out how to process those BIG emotions (whatever they are). I absolutely loved the line "If I am a mom, then I am also a wolf" (Um, yes!) and the line, "If I am a girl, then I am also a wolf" (Yes - find your empowerment!). The text is placed on the top or bottom of the page, depending on the illustration, but it's bold and clear to read from page to page. The illustrations are gorgeous! Evie Barrow uses colored pencils and crayons, among other tools, to create such a grounding element to the story. Thanks to Scribble for a copy to review!
Read
March 3, 2021In Howl Patrick’s warm storytelling style is beautifully enriched by Barrow’s bright, textured pencil drawings. Scribble has consistently put out fantastic children’s books since its launch in late 2016 and Howl is no exception. This is exactly the kind of gorgeous, imaginative, giftable picture book that booksellers will find themselves recommending far and wide come the lead-up to Christmas.
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
Read
March 3, 2021In Howl Patrick’s warm storytelling style is beautifully enriched by Barrow’s bright, textured pencil drawings. Scribble has consistently put out fantastic children’s books since its launch in late 2016 and Howl is no exception. This is exactly the kind of gorgeous, imaginative, giftable picture book that booksellers will find themselves recommending far and wide come the lead-up to Christmas.
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
Bronte Coates, Books+Publishing
Howl is a book for our times, especially for mothers and children in lockdown. The narrative encourages us to express our emotions, it’s cathartic to howl it all out!
Leesa Lambert, The Little Bookroom
Illustrations are bright and sketchy, with a loose, windblown feeling and coloured-pencil lines going everywhere in all directions; this matches Maggie’s frustration and then her freedom … Pair with Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s brilliant Virginia Wolf (2012).
Kirkus Reviews
A pedagogical book that gets to the very core of emotional intelligence.
Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
This is a charming story that revels in the delights of expressing yourself … Howl is a joyous celebration of what it means to be alive, and will be enjoyed by youngsters learning how to express their big feelings.
Angela Crocombe, Readings
[A] great story about helping children get through some of their intense emotions.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review
Howl is a masterfully told and exquisitely drawn story of a young girl’s way of expressing and resolving big feelings.
Mama Mag
If this isn’t THE book for all the 2020 Big Feelings, then I don’t know what is.
Shannon Wong-Nizic, Oh Creative Day
It is fantastic, and really timely given all of the big emotions everyone is dealing with these days.
Picture Book Playdate
[E]xquisite pencil and pastel illustrations create a mood of eerie mystique, highlighting the unique bond between mother and child, and underscoring the magical feeling of letting out big feelings and finding inner calmness once again.
Maya Espiritu, MaiStoryBook
[A] celebration of recognising and resolving the strong emotions that we feel. Not only for kids, but also adults.
Houston Library Finds
[H]ave you ever had big feelings, so big all you could do was howl? that’s what happened to Maggie and her mum in howl … [T]his is a masterfully told story about the ways children can resolve feelings of anger and frustration.
Girl Gang and Co
Howl is the perfect book for learning to embrace your inner wild.
Kid Lit Crafts
Big feelings? Excellent. Rather than shying away and merely counting to 5 to calm our big feelings, author Kat Patrick invites our little readers to acknowledge their big feelings and almost celebrate them — knowing that at the end of the day, when the moon ducks behind the trees, you are still the very you, and there’s no shame in that.
Bedtime Stories Forevermore
[A] joint mother/daughter adventure in a similar vein to Where the Wild Things Are — where they just give in to their powerful emotions and let it rip. Paired with the stunning illustrations, this experience is very special.
Ryan Billingsley, Dad Suggests
It’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meets Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie already had so many misfortunes (her spaghetti was too long, the sky was too blue) when her two front teeth fall out. Fangs grow in their place, and she begins to have ‘wolfish thoughts.’ The pencil and pastel drawings show how she resolves her feelings in an unexpected way.
Parents Magazine
Do you ever feel irritated by everything? Like your own body is confining? Are you ready to just burst out and run through the night? Let loose your inner wolf and howl at the moon? Maggie and her mum are just having a rough day, and are ready for some werewolfism in the great out doors of suburbia, and honestly It's a vibe I am totally feeling right now. This isn't a book about being trapped by a pandemic, but it might as well be.
Read with River
In a fantastical narrative that mirrors the plot of Where the Wild Things Are, a child learns to resolve overwhelming feelings … Scribbly strokes of coloured pencil, chalk pastel, and wax crayon appropriately illustrate Maggie’s frustrations. The refrain ‘If I am a [person], I am also a wolf’ paints personhood as part and parcel of having wolfish feelings, and Wolf Mom’s advice (‘Take a deep breath. Count to seven, which is ten in human breaths, and imagine your biggest feelings flying into the sky’) will prove useful for anyone having one of those days.
Publishers Weekly
The Evie Barrow’s crayon drawings give the illustrations movement, especially to the actions of Maggie and her mother dancing and howling at the moon in their garden.
Child Magazine
Perfect for lockdown days.
Daily Mail
I love the impish characterisation of a little girl exploring her own anger and the boundaries of her world … it chimes so resoundingly.
i Newspaper
Patrick’s wonderfully innovative story is complemented by Barrow’s pencil illustrations that are … vivid with a childlike quality to them.
Irish Examiner
This delightful book, with its rich illustrations is destined to become a firm family favourite.
Creative Steps
This whimsical fable about feelings uses humour and wild imagination to push the boundaries of bad temper towards a catharsis.
The Irish Times
March 8, 2021
Super charming. A little girl has a terrible day and at night she feels her teeth getting pointy and her hair getting scratchy and she turns into a wolf girl (sort of). When she follows the moonlight outside to play and explore, she finds her mother is also a wolf! Together they howl and dance until they're both sleepy and it's time for bed. It's a really beautiful mix of fantasy and reality, mixed in with some nice lessons about good days and bad days. The illustrations are really cute and full of rich detail, and I especially loved the wolfy shadows.
October 6, 2020
An incredible book for talking about emotions and providing tools for children to work through their feelings with the knowledge that they are loved and safe. The writing is an absolute pleasure to read, clever and nuanced - so that parents can find beauty in reading lines that are considered and generous, while accessible for the children. I am buying copies for all of my friends!!
March 8, 2021
When you are having one of *those* days - and you are fit to burst - howl! Reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are. However, it is Maggie and her mum who take their wolfish thoughts outside and let rip.
July 18, 2023
Ever have one of those days? That rolls into a sleepless night where you need to howl at the moon? This sweet children's picture book will make you feel understood. Best for sharing with your mom, I'm mailing this to mine since I know she'll love it. Beautiful illustrations.
Want to read
June 6, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
October 20, 2020
A book about feelings and frustration and letting it out. A good book for children who are having a hard time dealing with their emotions and how to express them and let them go.
December 18, 2020
Maggie feels like howling at the moon after a ruff day and mom is right there howling too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2020
I like the message and illustrations, but I found the text and story to be a bit awkward.
March 10, 2021
Handling bad moods | Colorful | Fanciful - (appeal terms from NoveList) - Hilary
December 6, 2021
A girl and her mum have a grumpy day, then they turn into wolves under the full moon. A magical story with striking illustrations.
February 2, 2023
I love the visuals of being a wolf when you're upset and the connection with her mom and the playfulness with which they calmed down. Highly recommend.
August 23, 2024
me off the gas station delta 8
January 6, 2025
“Maggie began to have wolfish thoughts.”
May 3, 2025
4.25 :)
July 12, 2023
GORGEOUS!
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