Please see my full review on readingtime.com.au.
Thank you to the Australian Children’s Book Council for the opportunity to review this book.

We are Wolves is set at the end of the Second World War. Eleven year old Liesl lives in East Prussia with her younger brother Otto and baby sister, Mia, together with her parents and grandparents. Her father is forced to enlist in the German army to fight the advancing Russian army. Liesl and her remaining family must flee that same advancing army. In the middle of a war zone and a blizzard, Liesl, Otto and Mia are separated from their family. Liesl has promised her mother she will look after her siblings, little realizing how challenging that will be.

Liesl is a wonderful character. She is determined to protect her brother and sister, and to find their mother. Even in the face of terrible adversity, she sees the positive; And, just like that, my heart feels a little spark of joy once more. Musicians. Babies with melted chocolate hair. Faithful horses. They are all treasure. But she is no Pollyanna, she also understands that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive. She has had to become a pragmatist at a very young age.

Nannestad has told the little known story of German children who found themselves separated from their families and living wild, foraging for food, sleeping rough and stealing food in the winter months. Known as Wolfskinder, these children overcame extraordinary deprivation to survive the harsh winters, and suspicious villagers who were prepared to hand them over to the Russian army for extra food. Trying to find food becomes all consuming as even the people who live in the villages and on the farms can be seen straggling across the meadows, searching desperately for a mushroom, a potato, a stalk of wheat that has lain unnoticed. If the world were a larder, East Prussia would be the top shelf where all the empty jars are stored.

The author has not flinched away from telling the reader of difficult and distressing events, but she has done it in a way that is perfectly age appropriate for the intended audience.

Special mention must be made of the beautiful illustrations by Martina Heiduczek that perfectly support the written text.

This is outstanding historic fiction suitable for readers aged 10 years and over.