This read this again as part of my current 'nostalgic re-reads' movement. I'm going to have to call this, along with 'Island of the Blue Dolphins' my "formative reads".

2023 - 1970’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (1972) 170 pages.

READING LEVEL 5.8 AR POINTS 6.0
(5th grade...more or less)

Setting: Alaska North Slope - Nunivak (Miyax born) and Point Barrow (Miyax lived when married) and Alaska tundra (Miyax ran away and got lost), New Hope (trying to get to), Kangik (where she found her father, who betrayed the Inuit principals).

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, maybe because I really respect the spirit of all the indigenous people. They really seem to know and understand and are closer to nature than us “gussaks” (meaning: white people in Inuit language).

It was the cultural change, forcing the Inuits to conform to society that sent Miyax to run away into the Alaska tundra where she used some survival skills her father had taught her. She also learned the ways of the wolves and was accepted as a part of their wolf pack, even if from a distance. When the lead wolf, Amaroq, was killed by sporting hunters, Miyax had to make a decision to either conform to the gussak’s way of life and live among them, or remain loyal to her Inuit way of life.

You will learn some true facts about the wolf, their habits and communications, and some of the skills the Inuits might use to survive extreme cold…40 to 50 degrees below zero; therefore, I would say this is more historical fiction rather than just fiction. I actually can’t give this a straight up 5-star because I couldn’t envision or understand some of those things that 13-year-old Miyax, an Inuk girl, was making for her survival. But, they were very short, so I just moved along.

According to wikipedia, this story is based on an Inuk woman named Julia Sebevan, who taught George the ways of the Inuits.

Sequels

#2 Julie (1994)
#3 Julie’s Wolf Pack (1997) ( )

FROM AMAZON: “Miyax had been lost without food for many sleeps on the North Slope of Alaska. The barren slope stretches for three hundred miles from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean, and for more than eight hundred miles from the Chukchi to the Beaufort Sea. Winds scream across it, and the view in every direction is exactly the same. Somewhere in this cosmos was Miyax; and the very life in her body, its spark and warmth, depended upon these wolves for survival. And she was not so sure they would help.” - from Julie of the Wolves.

When Miyax walks out onto the frozen Alaskan tundra, she hopes she is leaving problems at home far behind. Raised in the ancient Eskimo ways, Miyax knows how to take care of herself. But as bitter Arctic winds efface the surface of food, she begins to fear for her life, and turns to a pack of wild wolves for help. Amaroq, the leader of the pack, eventually accepts Miyax as one of his own defenseless cubs, protecting her from danger and saving portions of the daily kill for her. But as Miyax makes her way nearer to civilization, her life with the wolves, as well as all that she has come to learn about herself, are challenged as never before.

Julie of the Wolves is a controversial story about a young girl by the name of Miyax otherwise known as Julie surviving in the wilderness of Alaska after fleeing an arranged marriage and the relationships, she builds with the wolves who help her survive as she attempts to escape to San Francisco. The tone is often serious but sprinkled with hope and the illustrations support these tones as they are black and white, sketched, but add supportive imagery. Due to Alaskan Native’s request to have it removed and its brief description of implied assault and domestic violence, I will not be using this book in my classroom.
Alaska Connections: The story is based on the Tundra in Alaska and has a lot of references to Alaskan towns, animals, language, and people.
Related Activity: Discuss and practice outdoor survival skills with Alaskan Native Elders. Discuss the importance of safe, healthy relationships and consent. ( )

Thirteen-year-old Yupik girl Miyax (Julie Edwards Miyax Kapugen) is orphaned and extremely alone, both in life and in the Alaskan wilderness. At the beginning of the story, we encounter Miyax somewhere outside of Barrow, Alaska, having left her husband and life there. As she befriends a wolf pack, we learn more about her past and dreams for the future, with Miyax caught between Alaska's past and its future.

I read this when I was little (I think we listened to the book on CD in the car), and it was really nice to come back to it again. ( )