The Wolf's Secret
by Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard
art by Julia Sarda
2020
The Wolf's Secret is another children's picture book I picked up for the chance to see Julia Sarda's art. Once again, authors Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard remix elements of folk lore and fable to tell a new story that feels like it could be from long ago.
In the woods lives the biggest wolf. Every day he hunts, and every other creature in the forest fears him. The wolf likes to go to the edge of a clearing and listen to a human woman sing. She lives in a cabin in the clearing, and sings for her father, who is sick.
One day the singing stops. The wolf keeps returning to the clearing, but the woman doesn't start up again. He doesn't know what to do. Then, the wolf catches a rabbit, who promises to do him a favor if he'll let it go. He does, and the rabbit turns into a wizard. He sets the wolf on a path that will lead him back to the woman.
The wolf follows the path, and ends up with a magic bell he can wear around his neck. It allows him to speak the human language. He goes back to the cabin in the clearing and speaks to the woman while standing behind her. She says she can't sing because she's sad since her father died. The wolf offers to be her companion and keep her company, if she'll sing for him, and if she'll promise to never turn around to see him...
You might guess what happened, but Dahman and Digard find a way to give us a happy ending. The rabbit who becomes a wizard reminds me of one of Aesop's fables. The larger structure of the book resembles Japanese and European legends about shapeshifting animal and fairy spouses, what we might call 'selkie stories,' (following Sophia Samatar,) even when they're not about seal-women specifically. But in those stories, the price of curiosity is abandonment. This tale is much gentler.
This is an earlier example of Sarda's art than I've seen before. Her style is perfectly consistent, but I think in some of the later books, her compositions are livelier, and she finds more opportunities for embellishment. Here the pictures themselves are a bit simpler, even if each figure or background is no less detailed. The wizard with his beard of autumn leaves is a standout, and the other forest creatures reacting with surprise when the wolf puts on the bell is excellent.
In the woods lives the biggest wolf. Every day he hunts, and every other creature in the forest fears him. The wolf likes to go to the edge of a clearing and listen to a human woman sing. She lives in a cabin in the clearing, and sings for her father, who is sick.
One day the singing stops. The wolf keeps returning to the clearing, but the woman doesn't start up again. He doesn't know what to do. Then, the wolf catches a rabbit, who promises to do him a favor if he'll let it go. He does, and the rabbit turns into a wizard. He sets the wolf on a path that will lead him back to the woman.
The wolf follows the path, and ends up with a magic bell he can wear around his neck. It allows him to speak the human language. He goes back to the cabin in the clearing and speaks to the woman while standing behind her. She says she can't sing because she's sad since her father died. The wolf offers to be her companion and keep her company, if she'll sing for him, and if she'll promise to never turn around to see him...
You might guess what happened, but Dahman and Digard find a way to give us a happy ending. The rabbit who becomes a wizard reminds me of one of Aesop's fables. The larger structure of the book resembles Japanese and European legends about shapeshifting animal and fairy spouses, what we might call 'selkie stories,' (following Sophia Samatar,) even when they're not about seal-women specifically. But in those stories, the price of curiosity is abandonment. This tale is much gentler.
This is an earlier example of Sarda's art than I've seen before. Her style is perfectly consistent, but I think in some of the later books, her compositions are livelier, and she finds more opportunities for embellishment. Here the pictures themselves are a bit simpler, even if each figure or background is no less detailed. The wizard with his beard of autumn leaves is a standout, and the other forest creatures reacting with surprise when the wolf puts on the bell is excellent.
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