In "Wilding," Yolen creates a sense of place, a you-are-there feel to the narrative.

She often does this in longer works such as her Merlin trilogy of novellas (Passenger [1996], Hobby [1996], and Merlin [1997]), in which a medieval forest and the customs of its denizens are recreated. The sense of place is not always so strong in Yolen's short stories, though "Merion's Angel" (1996) is remarkable for how vividly it recreates a Renaissance house. From its garden to its kitchen to its private quarters, a setting is vividly constructed while telling the story of Merion, a girl who has perhaps an even more severe attitude problem than has Zena.

In "The Woman Who Loved a Bear" (1994), Yolen paints a picture of NativeAmerican life that captures the vastness of the American wilderness while it tells about a woman who is a slave. Through courage and fortitude, however, she...