Katie Slivensky, author of This Wolf Was Different, in conversation with Hannah Salyer [03/09/24]

Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome Katie Slivensky for the release of The Wolf Was Different! Illustrator Hannah Salyer will join Slivensky for a kid-friendly event that includes story time, snacks, and an art demo!

This event will take place on Saturday, March 9 at 11am at Porter Square Books (25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140).

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Inspired by natural history, this captivating picture book imagines how humans and wolves first came together, exploring individuality and how true friendship means embracing differences.

Long ago, a wolf pup was born in a forest. This pup was a wolf, and so were her brothers and sisters. But this wolf was different. She liked staying close to the den instead of hunting and chasing her tail instead of chasing other animals. She wished she were more like her siblings—more like a real wolf.

Then she meets a new kind of creature, no more like the other wolves than she is. As a new friendship blossoms, the wolf discovers that it’s okay to be different and, better yet, it’s a gift to be something new.

This gorgeously illustrated book includes extensive backmatter with scientific information about how wolves and humans first connected.

To celebrate the release of This Wolf Was Different, Katie and Hannah are donating to wolf and dog rescues: Wolf Hollow (MA), Mission; Wolf (CO), and Save a Pet (NY). Please visit here for more details.

Katie Slivensky knows what it's like to feel different. That's why (and how) they made their own interesting path in life: studying prehistoric animals, teaching science to big public audiences, and writing books for kids—including currently published middle grade sci-fi novels, The Countdown Conspiracy and The Seismic Seven, and upcoming titles: SMALLER: The Search for Subatomic Particles, a middle grade non-fiction look at the history of particle physics, and I, ROCK: A Geology Tale, a geological picture book told from the perspective of a plucky, spunky rock who after four billion years on planet Earth, really has seen it all. Katie grew up in Michigan where they worked at zoos and museums, and moved to Massachusetts in 2009 to spend over a decade working as an educator at the Museum of Science, Boston. Now Katie writes full time and lives in Cambridge with their partner, two children, and dear little cat, Darwin.

One of Hannah Salyer's first best friends was a dog. She learned very early on that interspecies friendships could be as loving, communicative, and nuanced as those with fellow humans. Her books Packs: Strength in Numbers and Ancestory: The Mystery and Majesty of Ancient Cave Art have garnered numerous starred reviews and the latter was tapped as a Junior Library Guild gold standard selection. In 2023 she was chosen to be a Maurice Sendak Fellow. She lives and makes her work in Brooklyn, NY with her partner and their three cats. You can check out more of her art and books at hannahsalyer.com

Katie Slivensky, author of This Wolf Was Different, in conversation with Hannah Salyer

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