Landon Colvin has been working on his book, Spirit Wolf, since last September.
“I went for a walk around the neighbourhood with my mother and we talked about what I could do and the book came out of that. I always liked wolves, they fascinate me. So I decided to write about wolves. I like dogs and wolves are dogs in the wild,” said the 10-year-old Beairsto Elementary Grade 6 student, who was inspired by Nancy Yi Fan, a 12-year-old American student who wrote Swordbird.
Spirit Wolf took eight months to write and Colvin admits to having a couple of months of writers’ block.
“It was going to be my great-grandpa’s 92nd birthday and I wanted to give it to him so I got writing again. He really liked it,” he said.
Colvin’s parents, JC Colvin and Shelley Zupp, had Spirit Wolf published for him for his birthday.
He imagines wolves in the mountains near Vernon where the north and south packs must battle for territory and to recover a stolen pup. The wolf characters have their own personalities, motives, relationships and concerns. Some surprising alliances are made as the story moves to a thoughtful and surprising conclusion.
“I did a lot of research about wolves, about how they would live and behave. It feels like these guys are real and I want to go and meet them,” he said. “It was really exciting to see the book. We gave the first copies to family and friends and then other people were wanting to read it so we had to get more copies made. Adults like it too.”
He is planning to write a sequel to Spirit Wolf to see what his characters do next.
Colvin will give half of the proceeds from the sale of the book to Jerseys for Africa, an organization that provides soccer equipment and clothing for youth in rural Zimbabwe. He wants the money he raises to go to buy shorts for the young people because they do not often get new clothes and they can wear the shorts for sports and other activities.
Colvin is also a musician who plays guitar and sings and was recently the opening act for a concert at The Rise.
“I find music is a wonderful way to express yourself,” he said.
He was interviewed about Spirit Wolf on CBC radio in August and has book signings and readings planned for around the area.
Colvin will be signing copies of Spirit Wolf Saturday at Bookland from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and reading at the Vernon library Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. Spirit Wolf is available at Bookland, K&K Books, Electibles and coming soon to Okanagan Landing Elementary School.
