Animal Train: Wolf Girl 6
By Anh Do
Illustrated by Lachlan Creagh
Reviewed by Sarah Custance
Anh Do has become one of the most well-known household names in children’s literature with his first few series including: WeirDO, HotDog, and Ninja Kid. For the last few years, he mas moved on to write series for upper middle-grade audiences such as Wolf Girl, Rise of the Mythix, E-Boy, and Sky Dragon. Animal Train is the 6th book in the Wolf Girl series.
After losing both Rupert and Eagle while on their last adventure, Gwen is determined more than ever to keep her pack together and find both her parents and safety. With the help of new pack member Pirate, Gwen and her doggies discover a family that has managed to stay undetected, while with the family Gwen is told of a train that passes close to the town that she could use to make her way towards her mother’s last known location.
When the pack jump onboard the train, they soon discover that it is filled with exotic animals and soldiers tasked with bringing them to the generals to use as pets and food. Gwen is outraged at the injustice and together with her pack they decided to de-rail the whole operation. But when a secret and special animal is discovered onboard will the pack grow stronger, or will things start to unravel?
Fans of the Wolf Girl series will greatly enjoy this new instalment though in comparison, Animal Train is the least action packed of the lot. While there are still adventures to be had in this book, it has a much slower pace than the others and offers very little tension. If not for a special reunion at the end of the book, it would be one that you (the reader) could easily skip in the series and not miss anything, which can not be said for the others. Having said that, if you do read Animal Train, it should be read in the Wolf Girl book order, or some situations will make very little sense with no context.