A married thirteen year old Eskimo girl wrestles with her identity, is she Miyax or Julie. Does she stick to the ways of her people or adopt those of the white people? ( )

Miyax, also known as Julie as her English name, lives on top of the world in the Alaskan wilderness, where she learns her Eskimo traditions and way of life. After marrying at the age of thirteen, she decides that she must run away to San Francisco where her pen pal lives. She takes off across the Arctic but soon becomes lost and without food. That’s when she finds herself slowly being accepted by a pack of wolves. She learns how to speak their language and soon the wolves help her survive by bringing her meat. She also uses the survival training taught to her by her father to ensure that she stays alive. But as she finally makes it the civilization she discovers that she has fallen in love with not only the wolves, but her way of life.

This book delves deep into wolf life, the pack structure, the tundra environment, and Eskimo traditions. While I found it all very fascinating, it was also very slow. Not much really happens in the book besides waking up each new day, seeing what the wolves are doing, and figuring out what to make for dinner. But I can totally see why this won the Newbery. I was transported into a different culture and environment and learned something new. Needless to say my eleven year old daughter hated it and was not able to finish it because it was too slow for her.

This book has been banned because of the attempted rape of Julie, which is basically her husband kissing her on the lips and then she runs away. I don’t even know if I would use the word rape here. It was all but one sentence.

But because it has been banned teachers should use caution and check with your school first.

Possible extension activities:

Students create a large wall mural showing the many different animals found in the setting of Julie of the Wolves. Post a list on a bulletin board so class members can note the animal and a page number where it is mentioned as they read the story.

Students can then work together to categorize the animals, find out what each one looks like, and draw or paint them on the mural. The chart the animals in the story by these categories.

mammals* Birds* Insects* Fish

After that a discussion could ensue about local wildlife and where each creature fits in the chart. ( )

This book is about survival in the wilderness. A young eskimo girl named Julie runs away from the planned marriage that was arranged for her. She becomes lost and must use all her eskimo skills to survive. ( )

When Julie runs away from home and finds herself in the harsh Alaskan wilderness, she turns to a pack of wolves to learn how to survive.

This Newberry book is a winner. There is one scene where Miyax, (Julie), deals with an attempted rape by her “husband” who is slow and only trying something as he is being teased by others. That one scene is in the middle of the book and is what precipitates her running away. The story starts with her lost in the Alaskan wilderness where she learns to talk “wolf” and be accepted by the pack. When her pack leaves when the pups are sufficiently grown to travel, she recalls her life as Miyax. When her mother died, her grieving father moved from town to the seal camp where he raised her from age 4 to age 9 when her aunt “rescues” her so she can move back to town and attend school. Her heartbroken father goes out on a hunt and never returns. Miyax, known as Julie in town, takes the “out” she has been given by getting married at the age of 13 as her father arranged before she left him at the age of 9. After she reviews her life, she is back in the present alone, but her wolf pack comes back! Things go ok as she tries to find her way to civilization so she can move to San Francisco to be with her pen pal. Tragically, as they get closer to civilization, a hunter from a plane kills the leader of the pack and wounds the pup he is training to be leader. Julie realizes she doesn’t want to be with such “civilized” people until she runs across a young couple out hunting in the old ways who mention her father. She goes to him to realize HE was the hunter that killed her wolf pack leader! She runs away again, but doesn’t get far before realizing the old ways are dying and the new ways are here to stay and she returns to her father. The book was written in 1972, and may not appeal to all kids, but I would read it again and would recommend it. ( )