Kathryn Lasky

When swan Elsinore, the beavers' beloved mother figure, is kidnapped by dark forces, Dunwattle and Locksley set out to find her, but little do they know, they have a much larger expedition in store when they discover other persecuted animals being held against their will for nefarious purposes.

After earning the right to return to the wolf pack that abandoned him, the exiled Faolan joins the clan as a lowly "gnaw wolf," but his goal of rising in the pack order is threatened when a jealous rival frames him for an unspeakable crime.

The Ring of Sacred Volcanoes has been destroyed and Faolan is leading his small band of wolves across the ice bridge to the hoped for safety of the Distant Blue--but his old enemy Heep is pursuing him and the icy path ahead is filled with danger.

When earthquakes and erupting volcanoes strike the Beyond, Faolan and the other surviving wolves must head for the Distant Blue, where they hope to find a new home.

Young children describe the various things their hands and their mothers' hands do when they are together throughout the different seasons of the year.