Miyax, also known as Julie as her English name, lives on top of the world in the Alaskan wilderness, where she learns her Eskimo traditions and way of life. After marrying at the age of thirteen, she decides that she must run away to San Francisco where her pen pal lives. She takes off across the Arctic but soon becomes lost and without food. That’s when she finds herself slowly being accepted by a pack of wolves. She learns how to speak their language and soon the wolves help her survive by bringing her meat. She also uses the survival training taught to her by her father to ensure that she stays alive. But as she finally makes it the civilization she discovers that she has fallen in love with not only the wolves, but her way of life.

This book delves deep into wolf life, the pack structure, the tundra environment, and Eskimo traditions. While I found it all very fascinating, it was also very slow. Not much really happens in the book besides waking up each new day, seeing what the wolves are doing, and figuring out what to make for dinner. But I can totally see why this won the Newbery. I was transported into a different culture and environment and learned something new. Needless to say my eleven year old daughter hated it and was not able to finish it because it was too slow for her.

This book has been banned because of the attempted rape of Julie, which is basically her husband kissing her on the lips and then she runs away. I don’t even know if I would use the word rape here. It was all but one sentence.

But because it has been banned teachers should use caution and check with your school first.

Possible extension activities:

Students create a large wall mural showing the many different animals found in the setting of Julie of the Wolves. Post a list on a bulletin board so class members can note the animal and a page number where it is mentioned as they read the story.

Students can then work together to categorize the animals, find out what each one looks like, and draw or paint them on the mural. The chart the animals in the story by these categories.

mammals* Birds* Insects* Fish

After that a discussion could ensue about local wildlife and where each creature fits in the chart. ( )

This book is about survival in the wilderness. A young eskimo girl named Julie runs away from the planned marriage that was arranged for her. She becomes lost and must use all her eskimo skills to survive. ( )

When Julie runs away from home and finds herself in the harsh Alaskan wilderness, she turns to a pack of wolves to learn how to survive.

This Newberry book is a winner. There is one scene where Miyax, (Julie), deals with an attempted rape by her “husband” who is slow and only trying something as he is being teased by others. That one scene is in the middle of the book and is what precipitates her running away. The story starts with her lost in the Alaskan wilderness where she learns to talk “wolf” and be accepted by the pack. When her pack leaves when the pups are sufficiently grown to travel, she recalls her life as Miyax. When her mother died, her grieving father moved from town to the seal camp where he raised her from age 4 to age 9 when her aunt “rescues” her so she can move back to town and attend school. Her heartbroken father goes out on a hunt and never returns. Miyax, known as Julie in town, takes the “out” she has been given by getting married at the age of 13 as her father arranged before she left him at the age of 9. After she reviews her life, she is back in the present alone, but her wolf pack comes back! Things go ok as she tries to find her way to civilization so she can move to San Francisco to be with her pen pal. Tragically, as they get closer to civilization, a hunter from a plane kills the leader of the pack and wounds the pup he is training to be leader. Julie realizes she doesn’t want to be with such “civilized” people until she runs across a young couple out hunting in the old ways who mention her father. She goes to him to realize HE was the hunter that killed her wolf pack leader! She runs away again, but doesn’t get far before realizing the old ways are dying and the new ways are here to stay and she returns to her father. The book was written in 1972, and may not appeal to all kids, but I would read it again and would recommend it. ( )

Julie of the Wolves is another survival type book by Jean Craighead George. Julie, or Miyax as she is called by her village, is a young girl who runs away from home because she feels it isn't safe there any longer. When Julie stumbles across a pack of wolves she is very frightened, but somethng amazing happens. The wolves except her into their pack. Julie rights a journal on surviving in the wilderness and living with a wolf pack. Her journal is also full of intriguing thoughts. Ultimately she will have decide if she wants to be Julie of the wolves forever or once more become Miyax of her village. For anyone who has ever wanted to live with wild animals this is a great book. I loved it because I'm a huge fan of nature but by the end I was a tad bored. This book is very thought provoking but doesn't have very many action or thrill scenes. I Julie of the Wolves 4 stars! ( )

Characters:
· Julie/Miyax (13) – an Innuit Eskimo girl, who flees an arranged marriage and lives among the wolves.
· Daniel (13)- Julie’s mentally handicapped husband, by arranged marriage.
· Amaroq – the wolf father that Julie befriends and lives with.
· Kapugen – Julie’s father, a hunter, who never returns from a hunting trip.
· Amy- (12) Julie’s pen-pal in San Francisco, who she is trying to reach
· Kapu- the wolf that Julie nurses to health
Notes:
o Julie builds a house of sod p.12
o Julie/Miyax is accepted into the wolf pack p. 25
o Julie catches and eats the birds p. 45
o Julie corresponds with Amy p. 86
o Julie marries Daniel p. 92
o Controversial rape scene p.102
o Julie runs away and reclaims her name, Miyax. p. 103
o Amaroq is killed by hunters p. 140
o Julie builds an igloo p. 152
o Julie is discovered p. 154
o Julie learns her father is not dead p. 158

Subjects/topics/themes: coming of age, loss/abandonment of parent, family ties, survival/adventure,
Related titles: Julie, Julie’s Wolf Pack (sequels).
Annotation: Miyax/Julie is an Alaskan thirteen-year-old girl, who believes her father is dead and enters an arranged marriage. She runs away from her mentally handicapped husband and his mother, in an attempt to see her pen pal in San Francisco. Julie finds a new family in the wolf pack, and when her wolf father is killed she decides to abandon her modern ties. Julie learns that her father may not be dead, and must decide if he is the same man she thought he was, while she also determines who she is as a person.

This is a great survival story for girls. ( )

A young Eskimo girl of 13 leaves Barrow and her marriage to a young boy to seek her way to San Francisco. Out on the Alaskan north slope she loses her way and her food supplies run out. Using lessons from her father, she begins to observe the world around her and the interactions of a nearby wolf pack. The lessons she learns keep her alive. This was my second reading of this Newberry award winning book, both times as an adult, and thoroughly enjoyed it. ( )

Slow-moving story

of teen girl's escape with wolves

from life as child-bride.

Miyax, like many adolescents, is torn. But unlike most, her choices may determine whether she lives or dies. At 13, an orphan, and unhappily married, Miyax runs away from her husband's parents' home, hoping to reach San Francisco and her pen pal. But she becomes lost in the vast Alaskan tundra, with no food, no shelter, and no idea which is the way to safety. Now, more than ever, she must look hard at who she really is. Is she Miyax, Eskimo girl of the old ways? Or is she Julie (her "gussak"-white people-name), the modernized teenager who must mock the traditional customs? And when a pack of wolves begins to accept her into their community, Miyax must learn to think like a wolf as well. If she trusts her Eskimo instincts, will she stand a chance of surviving ( )

What I thought: I read this book when I was younger and enjoyed it very much. I liked reading how Miyax was able to stay alive by following a wolf pack. In the story she tries to talk to the pack leader whom she has named Amaroq to try and get him to help her. This book is a story of survival and life without any help other than a pack of wolves that barely aknowledge that she is there. She learns from them and tries to make her way back to civilisation. This book is very engaging, when you read it you feel like you are making the journey with Julie. I thought it was a very interesting story.

Summary: Julie of the Wolves (HarperClassics) by Jean Craighead George (1972) A young girl Miyax is lost in the wilderness of Alaska. She follows a pack of wolves to stay alive so that she may find her way either back home to her husband or to the future she could have in the United States. Miyax has to make a decision to go back to the life that she had with her husband, or go back to the life she had in the United States as Julie. She has to make it on her own out in the wilderness of Alaska.

Classroom Extensions:
1) I would read this book to my class during our reading time. After I would finish for the day I would ask my students to write down how they feel about the story so far, and what they think will happen next in the story.
2) I would have them do a story map every day that the book was read so they could look back on what they wrote later.

Julie, or when she goes by her Eskimo name Miyax, is a young Inuit girl, that ends up running away from her husband to escape a marriage she was not interested in. Her intention was to go to San Francisco to move in with her friend Amy. After spending some time in the Alaskan tundra she finds her true path, and it turned out it was not the path to San Francisco. Miyax learns the language of the wolf, and is adopted by a pack that is lead by a wise wolf she named Amaroq. The Wolf pack had saved her life on several occasions, and she was able to return the favor. This was a great story about self reliance, self discovery, respect for nature, and the movement between cultures. ( )

review: realistic fiction I believe this book was a realistic fiction because it goes through the struggles that Julie has living as an Eskimo. It is all real and based in the Alaska Tundra.
The setting of this book is in the Alaskan tundra and is with a family of wolves. The books setting is very crucial and a very good one for this type of book ( )

While awkwardly worded at times, this book was touching and thought-provoking. Julie's attempt to balance Eskimo and American lifestyles was fascinating and horrifying. The ending was quite the twist - I didn't predict that last chapter at all. I would recommend it to mature middle schoolers. ( )

It was a great book, although it was sad at the end. So many great things happen in the book but u will have to read it to find out. ( )

Amazon.com
Miyax, like many adolescents, is torn. But unlike most, her choices may determine whether she lives or dies. At 13, an orphan, and unhappily married, Miyax runs away from her husband's parents' home, hoping to reach San Francisco and her pen pal. But she becomes lost in the vast Alaskan tundra, with no food, no shelter, and no idea which is the way to safety. Now, more than ever, she must look hard at who she really is. Is she Miyax, Eskimo girl of the old ways? Or is she Julie (her "gussak"-white people-name), the modernized teenager who must mock the traditional customs? And when a pack of wolves begins to accept her into their community, Miyax must learn to think like a wolf as well. If she trusts her Eskimo instincts, will she stand a chance of surviving? John Schoenherr's line drawings suggest rather than tell about the compelling experiences of a girl searching for answers in a bleak landscape that at first glance would seem to hold nothing. Fans of Jean Craighead George's stunning, Newberry Medal-winning coming-of-age story won't want to miss Julie (1994) and Julie's Wolf Pack (1998). --Emilie Coulter

Lexile: 860
Reading Recovery: 28
DRA: 44
Fountas Pinnel Guided Reading: V

This book started out a bit slow but got a lot more interesting as it went. Parts of the story seemed a little far-fetched and unrealistic but over-all it was a good read. If you want to know what the arctic tundra is like, then read this book. Lastly, I'm not sure what kind of kid would like this book. It's the type of story that a 10 to 15-year-old boy would really like, however the main character is a girl. Also, I don't think many girls in that age group would like the story. I guess a girl who was really interested in nature and the outdoors would love it! ( )

A good adventure/survival book. ( )

This was, until recently, the only book I had ever started reading but never finished. For some reason, when I was a kid, I just couldn't stand it, and couldn't keep reading. And, so... I finished it, thanks to the marvels of audiobooks, and... well, eh. It's basically the same book as Island of the Blue Dolphins, but for some reason I loved that book and was ambivalent about this one. It's not even writing style, because I loved My Side of the Mountain by the same author; I can't quite put my finger on what it is about this book that kept me from finishing it as a kid and from thinking it was anything beyond "okay" as an adult. ( )

Not as good as Julie's wolf pack. I enjoyed the parts that features wolves a lot more than I did of the part with Julie in them. ( )

Story of a girl and her friendship with a pack of wolves. ( )

FROM LIBRARY CATALOG:
Faced with the prospect of a disagreeable arranged marriage or a journey acoss the barren Alaskan tundra, 13-year-old Miyax chooses the tundra. She finds herself caught between the traditional Eskimo ways and the modern ways of the whites. Miyax, or Julie as her pen pal Amy calls her, sets out alone to visit Amy in San Francisco, a world far away from Eskimo culture and the frozen land of Alaska. During her long and arduous journey, Miyax comes to appreciate the value of her Eskimo heritage, learns about herself, and wins the friednship of a pack of wolves. After learning the language of the wolves and slowly earning their trust, Julie becomes a member of the pack.

Age Appropriateness: Middle School
Genre: This book takes the reader into the Alaskan Eskimo culture and is therefore a Multicultural book. However, this book would be classified as a historical fiction book because it takes place in the 1970s and accurately depicts the Alaskan wilderness and what it was like to be an Eskimo back then, Julie is a fictional character, yet she is very plausible and experiences real situations, such as hunting to survive in the wilderness and sticking with the Eskimo traditions. ( )

A multicultural novel about Eskimos of Alaska. You really feel like you are right there with her. Miyax is a strong dynamic character who is far beyond her years. This book should be used for advanced readers who can handle the strong issues presented.