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Synopsis From the author of the Newbery Medal-winning JULIE OF THE WOLVES and the bestselling JULIE comes the third exciting adventure about the wolf pack that saved the life of a young girl. Julie has returned to her family, but her wolf pack has a story all its own. Fearless but inexperienced Kapu is now the new leader of the pack. He must protect his wolves from the threats of famine and disease and, at the same time, defend himself from bitter rivals who are waiting for their chance to overthrow him. The strength of Kapu’s leadership will determine not just the well-being of the pack but its very survival.
Reviews Gr 5-8 Drawing upon her knowledge of wolf behavior, Eskimo culture, and Alaska, George continues the story of Kapu, the splendid male pup Julie nursed back to life in JULIE OF THE WOLVES (HarperCollins, 1972). This third adventure chronicles six years in the life of Kapu and his pack family. The animals are convincingly depicted with such respect and affection that readers will feel as though they too are in the wild rooting for the pack in times of famine, admiring Sweet Fur Amy whose unusual leadership abilities enable her to become an Alpha female, and feeling anger when Kapu is captured for research. The book is divided into three parts that suit the episodic plotting style; the strongest segment occurs in the middle when a lone female infected with rabies joins the pack, threatening the lives of its members. The writing is laden with natural descriptions and keen observations, some of which interrupt the story’s flow, but this rich detail is also the book’s strength. The perspective of the wolves is effectively maintained, but their encounters with hunters, veterinarians, and government researchers provide a framework for the different factions that must learn to coexist if this resilient yet fragile species is to survive. Those who have enjoyed Julie’s story thus far will want to read this latest encounter in which she grows up, attends college, and comes full circle back to the tundra, this time to study her beloved wolves with her new husband, Peter Sugluk. Caroline Ward, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NY. From Kirkus
Completing the switch in narrative view
begun in JULIE (1994), the sequel to JULIE
OF THE WOLVES (1972), George continues
her tale of the Avalik River pack entirely
from the standpoint of its members: Kapu,
the young new Alpha; his daughter and
successor, Sweet Fur Amy; Ice Blink, a lone
wolf who carries rabies--and Willow Pup
Julie, who lives in town but puts in appear-ances
to inspect new pups or perform
rescues. George invests all of her characters
equally with expressive language, customary
patterns of behavior, distinct personalities,
and rich emotional lives. The wolfpack
culture is complex and thoroughly articu-lated;
readers who follow Kapu through
seasons fat and lean, births, deaths, and
challenges (serious, but always bloodless) to
his leadership will be as devastated as the
pack is when he is trapped and removed for
scientific experiment. Working mostly
offstage, Julie engineers his return, but he
does not rejoin his pack. The rhythms of life
on the tundra are slow ones, and the only
deaths George describes explicitly are those
of wolves who succumb to the contagion that
Ice Blink brings; the result is a story that
flows at an even, deliberate pace.
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