"The Wolves Are Watching"

Natalie Lund is the author of the young adult novels, The Wolves Are Watching, The Sky Above Us, and We Speak in Storms. She is a former middle and high school teacher and a graduate of Purdue University’s MFA program.

Lund applied the Page 69 Test to The Wolves Are Watching and reported the following:

I was excited to apply the Page 69 Test to The Wolves Are Watching because it is a delightfully brief page:

“Hurry, Fanya,” Teodora says when our song is finished. “You must go before light.”

I grab the New Form by its head-fur. It is heavy, but I am strong in haunch, foot, and jaw.

I run.

I think the test works. From this short snippet, browsers get a surprisingly good sense of several aspects of the book. The Wolves Are Watching is an adaptation of Slavic folklore about Vila, fairy creatures that transform into animals and trap wanderers with their songs. And while the casual browser applying the Page 69 Test may not glean what these creatures are from this passage, they will probably pick up on the fact that we are dealing with non-human characters (“strong in haunch, foot, and jaw”) who speak differently (“New Form” and “head-fur.”) A particularly observant browser may also note that the names are eastern european.

There is, of course, a large swath of information that readers are missing from just glancing at page 69–primarily the fact that the novel rotates perspectives and that the dominant perspective is a teen girl named Luce. Her voice and conflict–a cousin that goes missing in the middle of the night–are central to the story.

That said, plenty is communicated about the type of book The Wolves Are Watching is. Even on this short page, there’s a pressing timeline–something that Fanya must rush to do before first light that requires strength and speed. There’s an element of mystery as well. What is a New Form? Even readers who have read the prior 68 pages have not discovered the answer to that question yet. Hopefully, browsers applying the Page 69 test will intuit that this novel not only includes folkloric creatures, but also elements of a mystery and thriller–plenty to keep them turning the pages.

Visit Natalie Lund's website.

--Marshal Zeringue