A striking front cover illustration shows a close-up of a husky’s eyes, one brown and the other blue. Joosse’s lyrical text begins the story of Ziva, the dog with the differently colored eyes, on the night of her birth, when “the wind held its breath.”“Two-color eyes spooked most mushers. They said it made a dog half-wild.” Ziva lives up to that belief, always lunging at her chain when the wolves howl. When a sled-dog driver (a “musher”) finally adopts Ziva, his patience and gentle manner eventually win her loyalty. But when Ziva has the chance to run free with the wolves, the suspense is palpable. Will she stay with her human companion, or choose to live in the wild? In describing the attachment between human and animal, the author successfully creates a heartwarming story that isn’t cloyingly sentimental. (Ages 5–8)

What will Ziva choose, her love for the Man or the freedom of the wild? Ziva heard the call of the wild. Most mushers believed that Ziva's eyes of different colors made her half wild, so no one wanted her. But one man took a liking to her.
As Ziva begins to trust the Man, she learns to use her wild energy to pull his sled, but she's torn between her love for the Man and the wolf's call. Will she stay . . . or go?
This story has been growing in Barbara Joosse's head since a friend told her about his dog, Ziva, who was "wild as a wolf and white as the snow." Kate Kiesler's striking full-color art perfectly captures Ziva's struggle in this powerful book.