Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Julie of the Wolves

I read this book while supervising an elementary classroom. Honestly, it feels a bit heavy for young ages. Overall, decent writing but the plot was under-developed and left lots to be desired.

Content Warnings

heyshay07's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Since it’s banned book month, I listened to Julie of the Wolves to see why it was on the list and compared to some of the others I’ve read I’m disappointed. This is a really slow book and the only thing kind of objectionable about it was that Julie/Miyax gets married at 13 years old, there is a brief mentioning about how her father-in-law is an abusive drunk, and her “husband” is a literal idiot who rips her dress and tries to “mate” with her but can’t figure it out. This gives her the reason to run away which then she gets lost and joins a wolf pack which is the majority of the story. It really wasn’t a huge part of the story to get it in the banned book list. I think middle schoolers would have no problem with the book, but probably not an elementary book just due to that.

I found Miyax really juvenile and the dialog was just ridiculous, but maybe it was how the narrator read it. I had a hard time caring about her in the beginning and she’s basically the only character so that’s bad. The first half of the book reminded me of a movie I saw in 8th grade about a scientist learning about wolves, I think it was Never Cry Wolf. I found this book boring but I am not an outdoorsy kind of person. I remember reading George’s other book, My Side of the Mountain, in elementary school and Hatchet by Gary Paulson in 6th grade and thinking they were ok, but this one just drug on for me. Maybe I’m just really not the intended age group, but if you liked the other two books I mentioned you might like Julie of the wolves. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The second part about the customs of the Eskimo and Miyax’s childhood was a little more interesting and I was starting to like it at the end. By the last part, Julie grows up a lot and steps into her own which is a good note to end on. I liked the contrast between her father and adopted wolf father. I almost gave it one more star except for the very last sentence of the book! Ugh! I feel like that totally undoes all the good there at the end. Anyone with me on that?

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jselliot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A childhood book where I knew it was part of a series, but I never got a chance to find/read the others. I do intend to rectify that, though! This book definitely started my curiosity about Alaska, though.

Obviously, some of my trope preferences hold true even now. It involves a girl that learns to survive against the odds, and has a heavy dose of animal companionship. She's creative and independent, and grows to thrive in the wild. The ending is cyclical to a degree - as an "into the wild" type of book, it also has a "return to civilization" at the end. But it implies that there's going to be more than just that, and I'm curious to see if that narrative promise holds out.

As forewarning, it does have attempted rape - but it is handled sensitively considering the target age group, and it isn't in great detail. There is also dated terminology in the use of "Eskimo," but the book was written in the 70s, so I can't hold that against it as a product of its era. The proper term is "Inuit," though.

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kibbles15's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is still one of my favorite books from my childhood. There are some interesting insights on the Eskimo culture. I would, however, recommend this for older children because there are some parts that younger children would not necessarily understand.

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bookhails's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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