A touching book I read in grade school. ( )

Miyax (Julie) has returned to her father after surviving on the arctic tundra by joining a pack of wolves (Julie of the Wolves). But her father, Kapugen, once a great hunter in the traditional ways, has adopted the ways of the white man. He flies a plane and rides a snow mobile, and he will kill (and has killed) the wolves, if they threaten his herd of musk oxen. Miyax is torn between her love of her father, and eventually even her white step-mother, and her love of the wolf pack which saved her life.
Though written 20 years apart, this sequel flows perfectly from the original Newbery winning book, and is as good as, if not better, than the first. ( )

NA

Book on CD performed by Christina Moore.

Book two of the Julie of the Wolves series, has our heroine returning to her father’s home and trying to reconcile the traditional Eskimo ways with the newer structure of village corporations, industry and working with the white man.

Julie is a marvelous character. Strong in body and mind, intelligent, resourceful, determined and loving. She’s also a young woman trying to find her place in the community after her year-long experience among the artic wolf pack she came to know as her family. She has a new stepmother, a red-haired Minnesotan named Ellen, whom she does not want to like. And she is taken aback to find that village life is very different from what she had remembered. Her father flies a plane, uses a snowmobile more often than his sled and dogs, and manages the village’s industry – a tiny herd of musk ox. Julie also faces a personal decision: to leave for more education to secure her future, or to stay and protect her wolf pack. And there is a possible romance that adds yet another element to consider in her decision-making.

The push/pull of old vs new, of childhood vs adulthood, of nature vs business form the central conflicts in the story.

The illustrations by Wendell Minor add a nice touch and support the scenes I had imagined from reading George’s descriptions.

Christina Moore does a fine job of the audio, although I did find the pace a bit slow. I probably read at least half the book in text format. ( )

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