Brett takes us back in time with this new story, which explores ancient man and his relationship with the domesticated dog in an exciting journey where the two new characters meet, face challenges, and eventually become lifelong partners in survival. The story itself is pretty basic, but I liked how Brett used a heady mix of humour and danger to provide tension throughout the story as our protagonists run into dangerous animals and avoid them together. Without this careful blend, I’m sure the book would have been lacklustre in terms of narrative, and would have been redeemed only by Brett’s expectedly intricate illustrations. Some of her imagery has been seen before by her fans (bears and wolves are featured in many of her books), but Brett expands her range to include new creatures and settings inspired by the paleolithic time period - namely a sabertooth tiger and border illustrations characterized by true to life cave paintings. The story of early man is less intriguing to me as some of her other settings, but I can see this story of exploration and ancient times being popular with young readers who are just learning about the evolution of humankind. ( )

Kip the Cave Boy and Paleowolf each face hunger and danger on a journey in Paleolithic times; when they decide to join forces and help one another, Paleowolf becomes the first dog.

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This book, this has never ever left my mind. I spent most of my childhood trying to draw like this, and to this day the collar the "dog" ends up with still has an echo in my concepts. The illustrations are so dang lovely. ( )

A great story set in ancient times about how man's best friend came to be.