Journey ─ Based on the True Story of OR7, The Most Famous Wolf in the West

This beautiful picture book?follows the journey of a young gray wolf who garnered nationwide attention when he?became the first wild wolf in California in almost a century. Using facts recorded by Fish & Wildlife scientists, author Emma Bland Smith imagines the wolf’s experiences in close detail as he makes an epic 2,000-mile trek over three years time. The wolf’s story is interwoven with the perspective of a young girl who follows his trek through the media. As she learns more about wolves and their relationships with humans, she becomes determined to find a way to keep him safe by making him a wolf that is too famous to harm.

Emma Bland Smith is a librarian and writer living with her family in San Francisco. This is her first book for children. She has written a nonfiction book for adults, San Francisco’s Glen Park and Diamond Heights (Arcadia), has contributed to Sunset and other magazines, and writes for the family website Red Tricycle.