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Title: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, John Schoenherr ISBN: 0-06-440058-1 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 10 November, 1972 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (124 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Julie must choose between the old world and the new.
Comment:
What would you do if you were lost on the tundra with a wolf pack as your only hope to survive? Would you go mad? Give up and die? Miyax Kapugen, an eskimo girl who has escaped from a disasterous marriage, has to find a way to stay alive until she can find a landmark. She has no food, only her knives, sleeping skin, pot, matches, and clothes. After building a hut on one of the many frost heaves of the monotonous tundra she turns to the wolf pack that is "many harpoon-shots away" for help.
Miyax names the wolves. The leader (alpha wolf) is Amaroq, the beta wolf is Nails, the mother of the pups is Silver. "The low man on the totem pole", Jello, is the hated wolf of the pack. He has to baby-sit the wolf pups, a job that Miyax soon takes over. The pups themselves are Kapu, Sister, Zit, Zat, and Zing. Miyax learns to speak the language of the wolves. She taps the adult wolves on the corner of their mouths when thay come home from the hunt,and on instinct, they regurgitate the food in their "belly-baskets." She is accepted by the wolves when she taps Amaroq under the chin as a "Hail to the chief."
Jean Craighead George crafts a surviva story that is so realistic that readers can feel Miyax's hunger and see the colors of her arctic world. Jean Craighead George wrote, in her very first paragraph, when describing the sun "It was a yellow disk in a lime-green sky." Later on on in the book she described Miyax's hunger "A dull pain seized her stomach."
Miyax uses her eskimo knowledge to determine what day it is. She follows the flight of different birds to discern where Fairbanks lies. She lives in harmony with the wolves, but when they leave for their winter den she is left behind on the tundra. When she begins a journey toward the coast and her people, a man in an airplane shoots the wolf leader of her pack, Amaroq, and Miyax is distraught. After grieving, Miyax continues her journey and meets two people who talk of the great leader Kapugen, who is Miyax's father! She rushes to rejoin him, only to find that he has forsaken or forgoten all of the old eskimo ways that he taught her. She is devastated when she finds out that it was he who murdered the magnificient Amaroq, all for his musk oxen industry. Miyax, christened "Julie" by the people of her father's village, realizes that "the hour of the wolf" is over. She sings her sad farewell to Amaroq: The seals are scarce and the whales are almost gone. The spirits of the animals are passing away. Amaroq, Amaroq, you are my adopted father. My feet dance because of you. My eyes see beaus of you. My mind thinks because of you. And it thinks, on this thundering night, that the hour of the wolf and the eskimo is over.
If Julie of the Wolves has a fault, my opinion is that Miyax is married at thirteen. This is a sadly realistic situation, nonetheless. I did not enjoy reading about it. Once, Miyax's husband tried to "mate her". It was horrible! That was why Miyax/Julie ran away. She repeated her father's advice to herself: "When fear seizes, change what you are doing. You are doing something wrong."
Jean Craighead George has written many other books besides Julie of the Wolves, titles including My Side of the Mountain and The Thirteen Moons. She has also written two sequels to Julie of the Wolves (Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack) and they are, if possible, more wonderful than the first. Jean Craighead George was born in Washington, D.C. She was inspired to write Julie of the Wolves by a summer spent studying wolves at the Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow. I think that this was what enabled her to describe wolves so well. My favorite descriptions of this kind are "brittle yellow jewels", (describing a wolves' eyes) and "Silver moved in a halo of light, for the sun sparkled n the guard hairs that grew over the dense underfur and she seemed to glow." (This was describing th gloriosly beautiful motherof the wolf pups. Jean Craighead George was rearedby naturalist parents who passed on their love of animals to her, and she in turn passed that love on to her children. She currently lives in Chappaqua, New York.
Julie of the Wolves is a book of choices. It is a very saddening read when Miyax/Julie must choose between the world of the old eskimos and te world of the new. Yet, there are small chunks of humor that provide happiness. The wolf pups in Miyax's care are always funny to read about. Kapu delights in her mitten, and all the wolves love to wrestle. Miyax herself makes up songs about almost everything, like about her peas that she picked : "Peas that go tink peas that go tot peas that will never grow outside my pot." Julie of the Wolves is a powerful survival story. It would satisfy those who hunger for books about wolves, people, the arctic, eskimos, tundra... So, I would suggest READING IT!
Rating: 5
Summary: Survival on the Tundra
Comment: This book Julie of the Wolves is an exciting adventure story of a 13 year-old Eskimo girl named Miyax, also known by the English name Julie. She is running away from an unhappy arranged marriage. She decides to go to San Franscisco to live with her pen pal Amy. She sets out across the tundra and finds a deep connection with nature. She loses her way and has a thrilling struggle for survival. She finds a pack of wolves and tries to learn their language in hopes that they will accept her into their pack and give her food. When she tries to communicate with the leader of the wolves Amaroq, he ignores her. While trying to get Amaroq's attention, she struggles with an inner conflict between her old Eskimo traditions and the new ways of modern living. "She says that she is an Eskimo, an as an Eskimo she must live. She would live with the rhythm of the beasts and the land." The only problem is that "the seals are scarce and the whales are almost gone." As she tries to resolve this conflict, she faces many challenges. Does Miyax starve to death on the tundra? Does she make it to San Franscisco to live with her pen pal Amy or does she return to her husband Daniel? Will she have to choose between the old ways and the new? Read Julie of the Wolves to find the answers. You will be glad that you did!
Rating: 1
Summary: Why?
Comment: Back in 6th Grade I was forced to read this book for a school project. I was never the same. This book showed me that not all literature is good, and that some works are truly horrible. This is truly horrible. I can't understand how it could win any type of award, especially a Newberry. I am still confused as to the point of this book. Most of the time, it read like a boring textbook and what story there was was pitiful and weak. I could not feel any sympathy for the characters at all. I wish there was a rating lower than 1 star, because that's what this book deserves. I saw someone on Amazon selling it for a penny. It isn't even worth that.
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Title: Island of the Blue Dolphins by SCOTT O'DELL ISBN: 0440439884 Publisher: Random House Children's Books Pub. Date: 15 March, 1971 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Julie by Jean Craighead George, Wendell Minor ISBN: 0064405737 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 29 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Julie's Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George ISBN: 0064407217 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 31 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Donna Diamond ISBN: 0064401847 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 17 June, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0440498058 Publisher: Yearling Books Pub. Date: 11 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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