the illustrations are delightful but the story? not so much. the “mysterious howling” of the title doesn’t show up until the final chapter and the mystery is left entirely unsolved. the main character has little personality and might as well be 50 years old, although she is actually 15. the children’s education is baffling: they can hardly speak english yet recite poetry and teach themselves to play chess. there is a lot of humour in the wolfspeak, but it is probably best appreciated by a very young child, who would not understand the rest of the victorian english. i have no desire to read the next installment in this series.