The Legend of Sisu

By Jenna Donnelly

When Sisu, a small wolf pup, is separated from his family one night in snowy Northern Finland, he embarks on a journey to get back to them. Forming an unlikely friendship with a group of reindeer, a highly creative mink and a cunning hedgehog, Sisu discovers his talent and passion for snowboarding. Against the odds, he makes his way to the Winter Olympics where he must compete against the best racers in the world if he is to have any chance of finding his family again.

‘The Legend of Sisu’ is an exciting, funny and heart-warming tale of courage, family and friendship. It reminds us that following our passion can lead us to the most unexpected of places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Conrad Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781839782862

Book preview

Contents

1. The three brothers

2. A close call

3. A cheeky puppa

4. The tale of Taivas

5. The troublesome night

6. Sisu’s warning

7. Morning enemies

8. Millie the Mink

9. Feeding time

10. Mistaken identity

11. A near miss...

12. Two sneaky followers

13. Breaking the ice

14. Words of encouragement

15. Believe

16. If you go down to the woods today

17. The best of the best

18. Unwelcome visitors

19. Millie’s special medicine

20. Super-duper raspberry-fizz-pop

21. Stiff competition

22. After hours

23. A rude awakening

24. A prickly solution

25. Fantastical fluffiness

26. High stakes

27. Ready, set...

28. Go!

29. A new champion

30. A call from the moon

31. The paddock reunited

32. A wolf in the stars

More about wolves

1

The three brothers

Northern Finland

Sisu had never seen so much snow. In fact, it was the first time he’d ever seen snow at all. The young wolf pup wondered if maybe the sky had accidentally laid down a thick coating of ice cream and glitter everywhere. ‘But that’s just silly,’ he thought.

A particularly tasty-looking snowflake caught Sisu’s eye, glimmering in the moonlight as it slowly fell. He decided it was worth trying to catch it on his tongue when his two brothers loudly raced past him.

‘Outta the way, Sisu!’ said Vin, kicking up a large quantity of snow in Sisu’s face.

Sisu shook the snow off his white fur whilst Vin and his other brother, Ares, stopped to laugh at him. The brothers liked to tease Sisu day and night - probably because he was the youngest of the three and didn’t have the same, dark grey fur that they had.

‘Don’t! That’s not funny!’ shouted Sisu, as he tried to blink the snow out of his eyes.

‘Calm down, we’re just enjoying this snowy stuff,’ jibed Vin.

‘Yeah, calm down brother!’ Ares always liked to chime in when Vin started on Sisu.

‘I’m perfectly calm, thanks. Why don’t you both go and play the same trick on Mum and Dad, see how funny they think it is?’

‘You need to learn how to take a joke, little pup,’ Vin scoffed.

‘I’m NOT a little pup! I’m exactly the same age as both of you!’

‘Yeah, but you’re really small,’ Vin replied.

‘And your tail doesn’t work properly,’ added Ares.

Sisu looked back at his tail. It curled under him rather than pointing out properly in pure wolfiness – he was always embarrassed about it.

‘And you’re kinda weak. I mean no offense or anything, Brother, but you are,’ Vin stated as a matter-of-fact.

‘It’s true,’ smirked Ares.

‘Then don’t play with me, leave me alone,’ said Sisu, biting back a whimper.

‘We’re a pack, we stick together so we’ll play with you,’ replied Vin.

‘If you can keep up,’ Ares added, under his breath.

‘I don’t want to keep up with you two. You’re always so mean to me,’ Sisu had really had enough of them both.

‘We’re just trying to help...’ started Vin.

‘Well I don’t want your help. You’re the worst brothers in the world.’

‘Fine. Enjoy yourself. Let’s go, Ares,’ said Vin, a little annoyed.

The two brothers ran off into the night. Sisu looked back at his ‘curly wurly’ tail, as Vin often called it, and with all his might, he tried to straighten it. But no matter how much he wanted it to, his tail just wouldn’t move, remaining curled under him.

Sisu plonked himself down on the ground and sighed. The forest was quiet, but Sisu could hear something coming. He listened carefully as the gentle whooshing sound got louder. He looked up - a creepy black bird was circling above him. It reminded Sisu of a scary story his father had told him once about a raven that liked to hunt wolves. He leapt to his feet, ready to run, as a figure in the darkness moved slowly towards him.

2

A close call

A nasty visitor appeared through the trees. It was Kalle, a lynx with an ugly, clawed scar across his left eye. He was much bigger and stronger than Sisu and could really have done with brushing his teeth a bit more. Sisu could feel his warm, stinking breath on his nose, he was that close.

Overhead, Kalle’s raven spotter, Laila, screeched horribly. ‘We were being hunted this whole time,’ thought Sisu, thinking of his brothers who had just left. Laila circled eagerly overhead, clearly thinking that dinner was about to be served.

‘Now what do we have here, Laila?’ hissed Kalle.

‘Seems I gon’ spotted uz a wolfie pup, master,’ she replied.

‘Yes, I rather think you did, how... delicious.’

‘You stay away from me lynx, or I’ll...’ said Sisu.

‘You’ll what, exactly?’ said Kalle, confidently.

‘I’ll call my pack and then you’ll be sorry.’

‘Oh go ahead. Please do,’ Kalle looked to Laila who signalled there was no one near. ‘Be my guest. Call for them.’ Sisu lifted his head to howl, but only a weak cry came out.

‘Is that it?’ Kalle laughed at him. ‘Is that the best you have?!’

‘He ain’t even learnt how to howl propers!’ scoffed Laila.

‘Oh my, what a disappointment you must be to your parents. Weak.’ Kalle moved even closer to Sisu. ‘But allow me to put them out of their misery...’

Kalle’s shoulders began to rise up - he was going to strike! Sisu’s puppy paws tried to grip the ground underneath the snow so he could run - snow was beautiful, but rather slippery. Suddenly, a large, dark shadow cast over both of them. It was like the moon had decided to hide away because it didn’t want to see what happened to Sisu next.

Sisu turned his head and saw his father, Eero, standing on the hill beside them. It was as if he appeared from nowhere. Eero was a large wolf, the largest of the pack, in fact. His head was low to the ground, teeth bared, with his yellow eyes fixed on Kalle.

Sisu spotted the long, wild grey hairs of his father’s back standing straight