Animals are a wonderful part of our lives. They bring us joy. They make us laugh. They give us unconditional love. They bring us sorrow when they leave us, but leave us with cherished memories of true friendship. Such is the topic of Wolfie, the latest offering by Sonya Rehman, an author, and an arts and culture journalist who wrote her debut children’s book.

Wolfie is the tale of a dog that is scared and manages to escape the farm where he has been living, in the city of Lahore. He also tries to rescue his friends while he is at it. With a beautiful, bright cover, the story touches upon important life skills that are blatantly ignored while parenting kids, and petting animals — such as pure empathy, true friendships, strong self-belief, plain humanity, and thrilling triumph.

Reading Wolfie left me with some silver lining for how we treat animals in this country. Many go hungry on our streets, others put to death in our shelters, and many suffer silently at the hands of their owners.

The book intends to make kids aware of what animals go through when subjected to mistreatment, and their deplorable living conditions, who must be treated with kindness, out of basic humanity. However, that is not the only lesson in Wolfie. The sweet, quaint anecdotes also highlight how differently blessed every being is, and they have diverse gifts to offer to the ensemble, whether it is courage, kindness or love.

This book also leaves us with a thought about children going through a vicious cycle of abuse — subliminal and apparent — bullying in school, peer pressure, abandonment, emotional abuse, neglect, and desertion. So while it may be pertaining to animals alone, it goes over and beyond to circle all living beings who grow up to be happy if nurtured and treated with kindness, especially those who think the world is dark and unkind, where they feel homeless, unwanted, abused and neglected. The book is for children nine years and above.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 27th, 2023