I always have apprehensions in
reading a book that concerns animals. I’m such a cry baby but a Newberry
award-winning book is hard to pass up. I’m glad I didn’t cry but still, there
was sadness after I put the book down.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean
Craighead George was first printed in 1970 and classified under the young adult
genre. But I believe that the topic and emotional effect may be quite intense
for the youth.
Miyax (Julie) is a 13-year-old Eskimo
girl who is forced to grow up so soon. She lost her mother, her father, and her
childhood, in that particular order. She found herself in the cuddles of a wolf
pack after running away from a life she didn’t want to live. Alone in the
wilderness, she applied everything she learned from her father and learned new
things on her own. Her will to survive is simply admirable.
Julie of the Wolves brings the
readers to the wilderness of Alaska
The book is heavy with emotions:
from happy, desperate, sadness, and grief. I wonder how children can handle
such deep feelings.
Initially, I find the book a bit
slow but when it came to the second part, the retelling of Miyax’s childhood, I
kind of got the hang of it finding it hard to put the book down. I'm also happy that the author gave generous "exposure" to the wolves, my favorite species on earth. (This is one of the reasons I picked up this book.)
For me, Craighead George
successfully made her point in tackling how the environment and society are
changing. I find it brave of the author to discuss the perils hunting brings to
wild species like the wolves with young adult as audience. It’s not preachy
though and lessons learned are not forced.
I feel that it truly deserves the
Newberry Medal honor.
