Thirteen-year-old Yupik girl Miyax (Julie Edwards Miyax Kapugen) is orphaned and extremely alone, both in life and in the Alaskan wilderness. At the beginning of the story, we encounter Miyax somewhere outside of Barrow, Alaska, having left her husband and life there. As she befriends a wolf pack, we learn more about her past and dreams for the future, with Miyax caught between Alaska's past and its future.

I read this when I was little (I think we listened to the book on CD in the car), and it was really nice to come back to it again. ( )

One of my treasured finds. This was one of the first books I picked out from my grade school library, and I still love it. ( )

I hadn't read this book since sixth or seventh grade. I dug it out of one of my old boxes while organizing things for my boy. I remembered liking it, but I didn't remember just how great it was. I've upped this book from 3 to 5 stars. Perhaps my memory wasn't very good, or perhaps my tastes have changed. ( )

Life for 13-year-old Eskimo girl Miyax has become miserable. Her mother died when she was young, then her father disappeared on a hunting trip. So then she was forced into a prearranged marriage to a mentally handicapped boy, also only a child. So she runs away, to try to reach her pen-pal in San Francisco, because it sounds in the letters like life is all good there.
The tale is told in three parts. In the first part, Miyax (her English name is Julie) is alone in the Arctic, surviving largely because she has succeeded in befriending a small pack of wolves which she convinces to accept her as one of their own.
The second part is all flashback, telling the tale of how Miyax came to be alone on the tundra trying to get to San Francisco.
The third part goes back to her journey, and brings it to its conclusion.
A sad but satisfying story. ( )

Miyax (Julie), a child bride, is alone, lost, and starving in the tundra after she flees her unhappy marriage. Her only hope is integrating herself into the pack of wolves nearby as her father once did long ago. Miyax dreams of an easy life in San Francisco with her pen pal who calls her Julie. This is a story of conflict between the two identities and traditions of Miyax and Julie. ( )