Tales of children raised by animals continue to fascinate. Tree authors inspired by untamed youths and their beastly guardians lead us into the forest and underground
BOBBIE PYRON’S DOGS OF MOSCOW
Imagine going to bed feeling warm, loved and safe, then waking up the next morning to find yourself on the street with no home, no food and no one to protect and love you. Now imagine you are only four
years old and trying to survive on the streets of Moscow. That’s what happened to Ivan Mishukov, the
real-life child who inspired my novel The Dogs of Winter. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, government-run social support disappeared. Within a couple of years tens of thousands of children were living homeless on the streets – enough to fill the city of Manchester. Many banded together in the warmth of the Metro stations, stealing and begging. Older children and adults often preyed on them.
children. Rather than throw in his lot with a gang of children, Ivan chose to live with a pack of wild street dogs. He helped them gather food. In exchange, they provided him with protection and kept him warm during the brutal Russian winters. In 1996 Ivan became one of the
pack. They were like his family in every sense of the word. They hunted together, played together,