Julie of the Wolves
By Jean Craighead George
Published by Harper Collins Publishers
Copyright 1972

Accelerated Reader: 6.4

Suggested Delivery: Small Group Reading

SPECTACULAR, HEART-WARMING, CLASSIC, MOVING, ENTRANCING

Miyax, whose English name is Julie, is a thirteen year old eskimo living in Barrow Alaska.  There, she lives with her husband but runs off into the frozen Tundra alone to hide from her undesirable lifestyle.  Heading to San Francisco to meet her pen pal Amy, Miyax runs into many adventures such as befriending a pack of wolves and living amongst them.  The story then flashes back to when Miyax’s father sent her away to school while he strangely disappeared in the meantime.  On the verge of civilization, Miyax finds out that her beloved wolf is shot to death and agrees to stay away from evolution until she hears her father is still alive.  Miyax then battles whether she will be Miyax or Julie in this new life she has created. 

Julie of the Wolves Trailer

This movie clip contains the trailer for the “Julie of the Wolves” movie.  This can be played prior to reading the novel to interest the students in the plot. 

Fun Facts

This PDF document is 22 pages of fun facts about the book, the background and the setting of Alaska.  Endless pages of activities, lesson plans and discussion questions make this site a great place to visit before, during or after reading the novel. 

VOCAB: Incorrigible, Pondered, Nomadic, Immobile, Diligently, Menacingly, Drastically, Harmonized, Laborious

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS:

-Use this book to stress the importance of family.  This could be used in a social studies lesson to support the idea of scope and sequence for level 2-family. 

-Use this book to track Miyax’s journey through the cold, this could be used for a geography lesson.

-Use this book to teach students about different cultures such as Miyax’s eskimo ways.

Before: Being disconnected from the other US states, student’s knowledge of Alaska may be vague or non-existent.  Have students research facts about Alaska using different types of media including magazines, computers and encyclopedias. 

During: While reading the novel, have students keep a journal of Miyax adventure.  For each chapter have students record a summary as well as any important events that happened during that chapter.  Students may also record their feelings about the book in the margins.  This will help students keep a record of the main parts of the novel.

After: Students will complete an exit slip at the end of the unit answer the question of: What is the moral of the story?  What life lesson did you learn?  Sttudents will be asked to complete a minimum of a paragraph for this response.  The teacher may choose to share these allowed anonymously. 

Writing: Students will design and write out a postcard to send to Miyax.  Students will be able to express their thoughts and opinions to her and what they would have done in her situation.  This is a good text-to-self connection when asking the students to help Miyax and give her advice based off of experiences they have had.