February group read: Julie of the Wolves

[SusanH]

Here is our discussion thread for Julie of the Wolves. Beware of spoilers if you haven't finished the novel.

[SusanH]

I started this last night and am very fascinated by it. One thing I always find interesting about re-reading childhood favorites is attempting to figure out what drew me to it in the first place. For this one, I honestly have no idea. I certainly couldn't have related to a teenage Eskimo girl living with a wolf pack in the wilds of Alaska. I'm eager to continue and see where her adventures will take her, as I can't remember anything about the novel. I also noticed that the author wrote another childhood favorite, My Side of the Mountain. That one I remember more clearly.

I have yet to encounter anything in the narrative that would prompt people to challenge it, so I'm also curious to discover what shocking events will come that got parents all up in arms.

[SusanH]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!



I finished this over the weekend and all in all, found it very enjoyable. I still am not sure why it ended up on the most frequently challenged book list, unless it is for that extremely mild scene in which her husband attempts to collect his husbandly rights. I wouldn't read it with 3rd graders or anything, but a middle school class could certainly handle such a nongraphic scene.

Although I think the book made it seem far too easy to survive an Alaskan winter (and ignored the "and then you go insane" part of living for months with no other human contact), that's a minor quibble. There was so much that I liked about this novel - the vivid descriptions of the wilderness, the fascinating look at life in a wolf pack, the adventure of it all and the language. The subject matter is certainly topical, with all the recent debates about drilling in Alaska. I think it would make an excellent read for junior high school classes and hope that attempts to remove it from reading lists continue to fail.

I'm not sure what I think of the ending. There are two sequels that no doubt shed further light on her decision to go back to her father. It's hard to imagine her living happily with him after what she saw him do, but I'm not sure what other choice she really had.

[Maribeth]

It's been a month since I finished this and haven't posted yet. ARGH! I've probably forgotten too much. Overall, I enjoyed it. It's something I would have loved as a girl. I agree with your quibbles Susan. And I truly don't understand why this is challenged at all unless someone is afraid it encourages kids to run away from home if the going gets tough. Even that seems far fetched.

Originally Posted by SusanH

I'm not sure what I think of the ending. There are two sequels that no doubt shed further light on her decision to go back to her father. It's hard to imagine her living happily with him after what she saw him do, but I'm not sure what other choice she really had.

The ending is what kept me from posting; I wanted to sort out what I thought of it. Obviously, I still haven't. I plan to read the sequels for some answers. I don't think Miyax had a choice and yet the ending didn't feel right. Maybe she teaches her father to go back to his roots . . .

[Caryl]

Mari, did you ever read any of the other Julie books?

Here I am, posting about this book a whole year later! One of my goals this year is to add to the discussion threads that I missed last year, and I am having fun revisiting our group reads from 2005.

I still have very vivid memories of reading Julie of the Wolves. It was my first experience with it, as I didn't read it when I was a girl. I think I would have enjoyed it, but the survival in the wilderness stuff intrigues me even more as an adult, I think. Jean Craighead Geoge truly painted some beautiful pictures of Alaska for me that I now carry around in my head. They pop into my mind when I feel an especially cold winter wind or walk in the quiet of a new snow.

I just re-read the ending, and I remember being shocked at that last sentence, and then impressed with the guts it took to end the book so abruptly this way and let the reader come to her own conclusions. (Interesting that the other book we read this month, The Giver, also had an elliptical ending.) I'm not sure why she decided to go back to see her father. I think it had something to do with the loss of her bird that night, and at that point desperately not wanting to lose another being she loved.