Title: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Author: Holly Black
In: Troll’s-Eye View (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Fairy tales, Villains, Werewolves
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: There was barely any wind, and the swells were small.

When a young lad sniffs a flower, he quickly finds out that not everything he reads about in books is fiction. Will he have what it takes to save his family?

While I really enjoyed this short story, what bumped up my great opinion of it was Black’s explanation for why she wrote it in the first place. On childhood vacations, she often wished that she could turn into a wolf and eat her family – so she wrote about a boy who could. And, honestly, who hasn’t felt like that on a family vacation?

This was a fun, easy and quick read. It took the idea of a boy who doesn’t quite fit in and twisted and turned it into a tale that was a little bit scary, a little bit about being right and a lot about family. It has that darkness that I tend to associate with Holly Black and one that I thoroughly enjoy.

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Image source: Amazon