girl named Zinnie when Native Wolves and African Elephants matter

This is a true-life adventure of two orphaned wolf pups cared for and befriended by a young black girl, who's a lesbian and a young black girl who questions her sexual orientation and who both try to raise the two orphaned wolf pups to be released in the wild in 1961. During their struggles with the help of an old Native American friend and a reminder of the young black lesbian girl's roots by her knowledgeable aunt, they learn to deal with their own differences in their community and in turn find love and companionship between each other and they realize they're not as different as they think. While one searches for her past, the other runs from her past, each finds in her yesterdays the power to live today.