A BUDDING author’s book about a wolf has soared in popularity in the wake of the wolves’ escape and shooting at Colchester Zoo.

Cora Mackenzie-Gray, nine, wrote the Call of the Wild last month after her class at Wivenhoe’s Millfields Primary spent a day learning about the woods.

Colchester Zoo’s wolf pack escaped on Tuesday and three of them ended up being shot dead.

As a result the book is enjoying a sales boom. It went on sale at the school on Thursday and nearly 40 copies have been sold already.

The school has decided the profits should be split between the zoo and school funds.

Cora’s 36-page story tells the story of three boys who get lost in woods and meet wolves, which they adopt.

She said “I am really surprised how popular it is. I didn’t know it would be made into a book, I thought it was just a literacy project.”

You can buy it from the school, in Bowes Road Wivenhoe.

Cora will be signing copies of the book at the school fair on Friday.