Children's Fiction Death & Dying
Saving Wolfgang
- Publisher
- Orca Book Publishers
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2025
- Category
- Death & Dying, General, Hockey
- Recommended Age
- 9 to 12
- Recommended Grade
- 4 to 7
- Recommended Reading age
- 9 to 12
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781459838161
- Publish Date
- Apr 2025
- List Price
- $14.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781459838185
- Publish Date
- Apr 2025
- List Price
- $11.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
When Wolfgang’s father dies, everything changes.
Wolfie and his mother move to Calgary to stay with his grandfather, and Wolfie starts at a new school. Consumed by sadness, his mother stops speaking and rarely comes out of her bedroom. While he tries to adjust to his new life, Wolfie gets to know his grandpa and makes a friend, Jimmy, who introduces him to hockey. Though he misses his father terribly, Wolfgang finds moments of happiness, like when his mom finally emerges from her grief to rejoin the world, and when his grandpa teaches him how to skate. He even gets good enough to join Jimmy's hockey team!
What haunts Wolfgang, though, is that no one will tell him how his father died...until one day he overhears his mom and grandpa say that his father took his own life. Now Wolfie has even more weight to bear—and so many questions. But even in the most difficult times, friendship, hope and hockey keep Wolfie going.
About the author
Gregor Craigie is a friendly public radio journalist, currently hosting CBC Radio One’s On the Island in Victoria, BC. He is generally well-liked and known for being fair, but will occasionally push people on political and social issues – while maintaining his manners, of course. Inspired by his interest in earthquakes, Craigie’s non-fiction book On Borrowed Time was a finalist for the inaugural Writers’ Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy. In an effort to stay healthy and as a tiny offering in the fight against climate change, Craigie bikes to work daily.