Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Title: Julie of the Wolves

Genre: Fantasy

Author: Jean Craighead George

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Major Awards: Newberry Award

Age group: 5th-9th

Summary

This story is about Inuk girl named Miyax.  She lives in Alaska with her father raising her in the traditional way of the Inuits.  However, she is sent to live with her aunt Martha as her father must sail away for work and the journey would be too dangerous for the both of them.  Tragedy strikes when her fathers boat is found  in pieces and he is no where to be seen, presumed dead.  So this means that Miyax must stay with her Aunt Martha.  Her aunt Martha is verbally abusive to her and overall makes Miyax feel very unwelcomed.  At one point thirteen year old Miyax accepts a marriage proposal from an older village boy named Daniel.  This is so exciting for Miyax as she dreams about how much better her life would be once she no longer had to face the abuse of her aunt.  Unfortunately her dreams are still put on pause as her relationship with Daniel is also filled with abuse and even sexual assault.  Her life becomes so unbearable to the point where she would rather escape to a Pen Pal she writes to from San Francisco who also calls her Julie than stay with Daniel or Martha for any longer.  So she does just that Julie takes the opportunity when Daniel is asleep to make her escape.  Her goal is to navigate her way from Alaska to San Francisco.  However, Julie soon loses that goal as she becomes stranded in the wilderness.  After a long and cold hike Julie finds herself alone without food or shelter in the Alaskan wilderness.  The story takes a turn when a pack of wolves find Julie and instead of doing what animals normally do they take her in and she slowly starts to become one of the pack.  She learns to communicate with them in order for her to get necessities such as food and water.  After becoming part of the pack Julie is found and is able to return to her old way of life, however she enjoys the life she has created for herself and what she stands for and chooses her new found life.

Evaluation

This story has so many layers and things to unpack about Miyax/Julie and her life.  I think the value that this could provide students is through the roof!  For starters this story gets the reader thinking about a different culture than that of which they are probably used too being exposed to.  This story also has heavy topics within it that help open the door for conversations to happen in the classroom so that students do not feel burdened about the situation.  Lastly I think this is a wonderful coming of age story to read because of all the growth that Julie goes through and how she has actually found herself at the end of the story.