Authors: Kathryn Lasky
Spirit Wolf (16 page)
I WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE MY
debt to one of my favorite poets, W. B. Yeats. His two poems “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium” were a particularly strong influence in writing
Spirit Wolf
. The phrase “no country for old wolves” was adapted for my wolf world directly from Yeats's poem “Sailing to Byzantium,” in which the poet refers to the country of Ireland that the figure in the poem has left, as “no country for old men.” The notion of the gyre, a conical shape, frequently appears throughout Yeats's poetry and is part of his complex philosophical system. He wrote about this philosophy in a book called
A Vision
. It was something that has intrigued me for years, ever since I first studied Yeats in college. I took this idea and adapted it for the notion of gyre souls. While gyre souls in truth bear no resemblance to Yeats's theory, nevertheless I am indebted to this great Irish poet whose words have continued to haunt me in the very best of ways for over forty years.
K
ATHRYN
L
ASKY
is the author of the bestselling Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, which has sold more than four million copies and has been made into a major motion picture,
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
. Her books have received a Newbery Honor, a Boston GlobeâHorn Book Award, and a Washington PostâChildren's Book Guild Award. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn Lasky
Interior illustrations by Richard Cowdrey
Interior illustrations © 2012 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lasky, Kathryn.
Spirit wolf / Kathryn Lasky; [interior illustrations by Richard Cowdrey] â 1st ed.
p. cm. â (Wolves of the Beyond; bk. 5)
Summary: When earthquakes and erupting volcanoes strike the Beyond, Faolan and the other surviving wolves must head for the Distant Blue, where they hope to find a new home.
ISBN 978-0-545-27961-1
1. Wolves â Juvenile fiction. [1. Wolves â Fiction. 2. Fantasy.] I. Cowdrey, Richard, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Lasky, Kathryn. Wolves of the Beyond; 5. PZ7.L3274Spm 2012
813.54 â dc23
2012001594
First edition, May 2012
Map illustration by Lillie Howard
Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
Cover art © 2012 by Scholastic Inc.
e-ISBN 978-0-545-44318-0
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.