I dedicate this book to my friends, Rowan and Nick.

Deep in the woods of North America, shooting stars soar through the swirly sky, as the moon reflects on the leafy grass. A thirsty Gray Wolf desperately runs to the pond to drink some water. All of a sudden, Gray Wolf hears a sound. “Sh…shush….” His ears perk up and his nose twitches left to right. Gray Wolf can smell his prey over one mile away!

As the sun rises over the grassy hills, Gray Wolf searches for its prey. Suddenly Gray Wolf spots a creature with a cotton tail! Gray Wolf inches closer and closer, and closer to the bush where the creature is hiding. Gray Wolf digs his face hungrily into the bush. The creature looks at Gray Wolf in the eye, paralyzed with fear. It is a bunny! The bunny leaps out of the bush and scampers away.

Gray Wolf chases the bunny this way and that way, back and forth, left and right! The sun reflects on the dark tangerine hills. The beautiful purple and leafy grass is taller than the bottom of the tree trunk. Gray Wolf keeps running but he is so tired. He stops to take a break and the bunny gets away again.

As the sun settles behind the bumpy hills, Gray Wolf and two of his wolf friends continue to hunt for the bunny that keeps leaping to a hiding spot. Twisted, black fog settles down into the mountains and valleys. Gray Wolf and his wolf friends look behind trees, hills, and fields of grass. Gray Wolf has no luck. He feels really, really tired.

The full moon shines down brightly. Gray Wolf drags himself back to his cave. He thinks he will never eat a delicious bunny again. All of a sudden, Gray Wolf hears a rustling sound coming from behind a tree. His tongue slides out of his mouth. His nose sniffs the air. His eyes open wide. His ears perk up. His claws are ready to attack. Pounce! Gray Wolf finally has his meal. Gray Wolf happily carries his prey all the way back to his cave. He devours his bunny, enjoying every last bite. Gray Wolf drifts off to sleep and dreams about his day.

About the Author

Gray Wolf’s Hunt was created and written by Christopher Peterson. Chris is a third grader in Mrs. Mattson’s class. He loves singing, dancing, sports, and other activities, but the best thing he loves about school is science. What he liked about this wolf animal book was making the collages. He also liked the extra group cooperation on his cover. He shared his collage pieces with his friends.

This is one of the many books that came to life while students in Mrs.

Mattson’s 3rd grade class explored the rich relationship between visual

imagery and the written word. This book was created as a part of Image-

Making Within the Writing Process, a dynamic art-and-literature-based

approach to writing developed by Beth Olshansky at the University of New

Hampshire. Image-Making uses hand-painted textured papers as the raw

materials for creating collage stories and poetry. Unlike a more traditional

writing process, within Image-Making the pictures always come first. This

offers students with diverse learning styles essential visual and kinesthetic

tools for rehearsing, drafting, and revising their ideas long before setting

pencil to paper. Image-Making was validated by the US Department of

Education as an “innovative and effective literacy program” in 1993. Today

children around the world use this process to create books in many

languages.

Spring, 2010