Julie of the Wolves

Stories that have a female protagonist that do not center on domestic life or romance are always refreshing. And if they are written by a woman, all the better.

Besides being a good outdoor adventure that kept me intrigued all the way through, I am mulling over its larger story and meaning. Filled with native traditions, imperialism and capitalism, limitations of gender-defined roles, all of that packed into a book aimed at younger readers. That's a good thing.

The last few paragraphs surprised me at how sad they hit me. Realistic but sad. I understand George wrote a couple of sequels, but I'm not ready for them. I want to savor this one and its ending and to think how the life of Julie/Miyax might have continued, drifting in and out of show more my thoughts for a while. show less

Grades 3-7

Julie Edwards Miyax Kapugen is a 13-year-old Eskimo girl on the cusp between childhood and womanhood, between traditional life and modern “white” life. Orphaned and living with an aunt she dreams alternately of the years she spent living with her father at a small village and of San Francisco and the pink “mansion” where her pen pal Amy lives. She is married at thirteen to the son of her father’s good friend, an arrangement that had been made years previously, but Daniel is not a suitable husband, so Julie leaves to find her own way. She uses all the skills her father taught her regarding the traditional Eskimo life, but still she is struggling to feed herself. When she encounters a wolf pack she recalls her father’s story show more of wolves, so she observes them carefully and learns more about surviving on the Alaska tundra. Leaving Julie behind, she becomes Miyax, an Eskimo girl.

This is a lovely and compelling story. More than just a coming-of-age tale, it is a tale of survival. Our young heroine has endured considerable tragedy in “modern” life; her time on the vast and unforgiving tundra will test her in ways many adults could not manage. She shows intelligence, drive, persistence, patience, empathy and spirituality. She is truly torn and her final decision on whether to stay on the tundra as Miyax or return to a village as Julie is a heart-wrenchingly difficult one.

George paints a desolate landscape that still has beauty and majesty. Julie’s character unfolds as her confidence in her skills grows. We feel her excitement and despair. Relish her successes and worry over her missteps. The book is aimed at children ages 10 and older, but adults will enjoy it as well.

The audio book is performed by Christina Moore, who does a wonderful job, bringing not only Julie but the animals and landscape of Alaska to life. show less

I'm really surprised I didn't read this book as a child. I was totally into the "kids living on their own" theme when I was in junior high. I actually wrote a book in eighth grade about a girl named Kia who escapes from her large family into a secret room in her house and then gets scurvy.

Okay, so maybe my book wasn't exactly like this one, which is about a girl who escapes an arranged marriage by heading out onto the tundra and living on her own (with the help of a pack of wolves). But the themes of escape and self-sufficiency are in both. Well, except that my heroine wasn't exactly self-sufficient.

Fine, my book wasn't at all like this one, but I still think I would have liked Julie of the Wolves had I read it as a kid. My show more eight-year-old sure loves it, but I think she loves it more for the communicating-with-animals part (the same reason she loves Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series).

I guess I'm not sure if it would really be so easy in real life to win the trust of a wolf pack, but then I've not tried. It didn't seem so far-fetched to me that it detracted from the story, though. It was all a part of Julie/Miyax's set-apartness. I loved how everything that others saw as backward and a result of poor decision-making, Julie saw as wonderful. She was almost magical in her specialness and her self-confidence. Naturally, she chafed in the life of the city, even as she tried so hard to belong there. But then, I think Jean Craighead George painted a scene in which Eskimo culture itself was chafing in the life of the city where the compromises of the old ways proved too much to maintain a sense of self.

This story left me feeling nostalgic for the time when magical things seemed possible to me, before grown-up pragmatism and self-consciousness boxed in and tamed that sense of possibility.

Will Julie's magic make it through her adolescence, or will she be forced to compromise it? I'm almost too afraid to read the next books to find out. show less

I loved how Miyak learned to "talk" wolf and was accepted by the wolf pack. I loved how she learned to use the skills she had to survive and to thrive in the wilderness. I ached for her conflict - white ways vs. Eskimo ways. And in some ways that conflict exists for all children growing up to be adults - the conflict between idealism and pragmatism. Beautiful writing, especially when describing the wolves. I kept thinking the title wasn't right - she wasn't Julie. But the ending made me re-think that.

A 1973 Newbery Medal winner, Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George is the story of a young Inuit girl named Miyax, Julie is her English name given to her by her aunt who sends her to an American school after the death of her father. Forced into an arranged marriage at age 13 to the mentally challenged son of her father’s best friend, she flees after he tries to rape her. She becomes lost on the Alaskan tundra and survives by befriending a wolf pack. Her father had been a skilled hunter and she learned from him many of the skills she needed to survive in such a harsh environment. Her plan is to make her way to a harbour town and escape south to San Francisco where she has a pen pal friend who has invited her to stay.

While the show more book is obviously written for a younger audience, I found it an engaging and educational read. As Miyax travels with the wolf pack, they become like a family to her, but there are some difficult decisions ahead for when she discovers that her father didn’t die but is now hunting wolves from an airplane. The simple prose and bittersweet story gives the reader a strong picture of how the original Inuit customs and culture are being forever altered by the modern world. show less

The pains of growing up and culture clash meld into a story of animal communication and survival skills with some beautiful nature writing. No wonder this book is a classic. It is told in three parts, and the first one is about Julie's interactions with a wolf pack, which hooked me from the beginning. In the opening scene Julie, a thirteen-year-old Inuit (or Eskimo as they are called in the book) is lost on the Arctic tundra. She had run away from home, trying to reach the coast where a ship would take her to San Francisco. She ran out of food and in spite of finding ways to hunt and forage, is slowing starving. She comes across a small wolf pack and decides that her only hope is to gain their trust and share their food. Incredible show more patience and close attention to the subtle ways the wolves communicate allows her to do this. I really loved reading about how Julie integrated herself into the wolf pack, and how she lived alongside the animals. It felt quite plausible.

The second part of the book is a flashback to Julie's childhood, which tells how she got into her present predicament. Her father, a great hunter who taught her many traditional skills, disappears one day on a trip and is presumed dead. She is forced to move away and live with an aunt who only seems to want Julie in her household as a source of free labor. Julie escapes this situation via an arranged marriage to an Inuit boy, but this new home is also insufferable. Having run away, got lost in the wilderness and found ways to survive, Julie (whose Eskimo name is Miyax) gradually discovers that she loves living close to the land, that she has a deep appreciation for nature and finds satisfaction in using her skills (not without some major challenges, though). When she finally reaches populated areas again, she's no longer sure if she wants to live among men. Her value system is different now. She directly sees the threat modern man poses to her wolves (who follow along towards the village). And when she makes contact with people, she discovers that far more has changed than her own perceptions. I really felt like the ending was too quick, and I had forgotten what sad notes it contained. But it does make me more eager to pick up the second book and see where the story goes.

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