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This book is a wolf conservation story. It's a story of animal love and the true story of Rami, the remarkable wolf ambassador. Rami was born in captivity to captive parents, so he can't survive in the wild. He doesn't have the hunting and survival skills necessary for release. But, he has a good life in a wolf sanctuary, Mission: Wolf, in the southern Colorado Rockies.
The story is told from Rami's perspective: "As I grew older the people at Mission: Wolf taught me about trust and being trusted... to teach people about us." He is a political wolf, too: "Those important dignitaries all became silent, just like the school children had done. It was my job to convince them that the wolf was worthy to be protected." Being unusually friendly with humans, Rami makes the perfect representative for wolves worldwide.
In many ways, Mission: Wolf is the gold standard of wildlife refuges in its care for animals and advocacy for wild wolves. From Stanley's description of the organization, it is obvious that caring for wolves is a full-time job that requires experience and a decent amount of land. The book is full of photographs of the real Rami and other wolves visiting various schools. The artistic renderings are also magnificent, and the piercing wolf eyes are noteworthy in both cases. Some readers may have already met Rami because he crosses the country and is more widely traveled than most American humans. However, whether one knows him personally or not, the odds are good that all readers of this tale will fall in love with wolves if they aren't already howling fans.