Julie of the Wolves

Julie of the Wolves is a children's novel by Jean Craighead George, published in 1972, about a young Yupik girl experiencing the changes forced upon her culture from outside. There are two sequels, Julie (1994), which starts 10 minutes after the first book ends, and Julie's Wolf Pack (1997), which is told from the viewpoint of the wolves.

Background

In 1971, Jean Craighead George and her son, Luke went on a trip to Barrow, Alaska to do research on wolves for an article for Reader's Digest.^[1] As they flew into the Barrow airport, she and her son spotted a young Eskimo girl on the tundra, whom her son said "looked awfully little to be out there by herself."^[1][2] At the Barrow Arctic Research Lab, George observed scientists who were studying wolves and attempting to break their communication code.^[2][3] She allegedly witnessed a man bite the wolf on the top of its nose and communicate with it in soft whimpers, and "the incident stayed with George".^[4] George herself successfully communicated with a female wolf, and upon remembering the Eskimo girl walking by herself on the tundra that she and her son Luke saw on their way to Barrow, she decided to write a book about a young girl surviving on her own in the tundra by communicating with wolves.^[2][3] The character of Miyax/Julie is based on an Eskimo woman named Julia Sebevan, who taught George "about the old ways of the In the process of writing the novel, George went through three drafts, and the title had been changed numerous times; the first versions of the titles included "The Voice of the Wolf," "Wolf! Wolf?," "Wolf Girl," "The Cry of the Wolf," and "Wolf Song."^[4]

Readers and students communicated to George their desire to read more about Julie "several years ago", but George felt that she "did not know enough about the Eskimo culture." It was only after her son, Craig, moved to Alaska that George "felt ready" to write the sequel titled Julie.^[1][3] Julie's Wolf Pack was written only after George had learned more about the relationships of wolves in a pack.^[1]

Plot summary

The story has three parts, from her present situation (Amaroq, the Wolf), then a flashback (Miyax, the Girl), and finally back to the present (Kapugen, the Hunter).

Julie/Miyax is an Eskimo girl torn between modern Alaska and the old Eskimo tradition. Left with her father, Kapugen, after losing her mother; Julie became intelligent, observant, and one with the Arctic tundra. Years later, her father went out on a seal hunt one day, only for bits of his boat to be found washed ashore and no sign of him.

Miyax was sent to live with Aunt Martha, a distant and cold woman. She was told that at the age of 13, she could leave her Aunt's house if she wed a boy named Daniel; Miyax did just that. However, when she arrived, she realized that Daniel was feeble minded. Caught in an unbearable situation, she runs away, in hope of leaving to stay with her pen-pal in San Francisco, California.

When Miyax ran away, she realized she would need to find a way to maintain good health. She learned how to communicate with the wolves to receive food, water, and family: all the necessities. However, when a chance to return to modern Eskimo society appears, she is torn. Will she be Miyax of the Eskimos, or Julie of the wolves?

The author engages the reader by creating an intelligent young girl face to face with dangerous, even life-threatening challenges. It allows the reader to form an emotional attachment to Miyax.

Reception

The book was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1973,^[5] and was a nominee under the Children's Books category in the 1973 National Book Awards.^[6] Mary Ellen Halvorson describes the book as "uniquely sensitive" and "wonderfully educational" in a review for The Courier.^[7] The book also won the 1975 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.^[8]

The inclusion of Julie of the Wolves in elementary school reading lists has been challenged several times due to parental concerns regarding the attempted rape of the main character.^[9] One of these incidents occurred in March 1996, when the book was removed from the sixth grade reading list in Pulaski Township, Pennsylvania at the behest of parents who "complained of a graphic marital rape scene in the book".^[9] It is number 32 on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999.^[10]

2003 edition cover

Publication history

• 1972, USA, Harper and Row, ISBN 0-06-021943-2, Pub date 1972, Hardcover
• 1974, USA, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-440058-1, Pub date February 10, 1974, Paperback
• 1985, USA, HarperTrophy ISBN 0-06-021943-2, Pub date 1985, Paperback
• 1997, USA, HarperTrophy ISBN 0-06-440058-1, Pub date June 6, 1997, Paperback
• 2003, USA, HarperTeen ISBN 0-06-054095-8, Pub date September 16, 2003, Paperback

Since its first publication, Julie of the Wolves has also been published in at least thirteen other languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, and Japanese.^[11]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Julie of the Wolves has been adapted into a musical play, directed by Peter Dalto asic by Chris Kubie and choreography by Fay Simpson.^[12][13] The musical stars Briana Sakamoto as Julie, and a workshop production was held on May 16, 2004 at The Northern Westchester Center for the Arts' Kaufman Theater.^[12] As of November 2005, Kubie notes on his website that "the journey of Julie Of The Wolves (the musical) continues as the writer Barbara Dana, prepares yet another rewrite."^[13]

Jean Craighead George announced in November 2007 that the book is being adapted into a film by Robert and Andy Young Productions Inc.^[14] Andy Young traveled to Nunavut in 2008 with the intention of finding a young Inuk or Inupiat to play the role of Julie, but stated in April 2008 that he was in discussion with a non-Inuk to play the role because they "didn't find the person that we felt was going to breathe the right kind of feeling into the story," and because they had resistance from would-be investors to using a first-time actress for the film. Young had also intended to shoot the film in Nunavut, but is considering shooting in Alaska because of the lack of roads joining Nunavut to Southern Canada as well as the area's "limited financial incentives for filmmakers from outside the territory."^[15]

References

External links

• List of resources for reading and teaching this novel