Gone Wolf

Award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, in this middle-grade novel that has been compared to the work of Jordan Peele and praised as ＂brilliantly inventive storytelling＂ by Publishers Weekly.
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In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined -- to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue -- the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often - he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too--she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room.

In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered.

In this symphony of a novel, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, and empowers readers to remember their voices and stories are important, especially when they feel the need to go wolf.

Amber McBride’s debut young adult novel, Me (Moth), was a finalist for the National Book Awards and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. Her second young adult novel, We Are All So Good at Smiling, was praised for offering ＂important messages, uniquely delivered＂ by Kirkus in a starred review. Gone Wolf marks Amber McBride’s middle grade fiction debut. She is a professor of creative writing at University of Virginia, and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.