thecallofthewild

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Book Reviews and Synopses

The Call of The Wild

Jack London

London, Jack. The Call of The Wild. Dover Publications. Boston, Massachusetts. 1906.

The Call of The Wild is a classic book of survival by the world renowned author Jack London. This book has been praised by readers for more than a century and is considered one of the best of London’s books.

This story is about a 13 year old boy named James. James really likes the outdoors. He goes out on hikes and camps out often, and what better place to spend time in the wilderness than in Fairbanks, Alaska.

One day, as James is walking home from school he sees a baby wolf in the middle of the road. One of the wolves paws is badly injured so it can’t walk. James quickly hurries and picks it up, James takes his scarf off and wraps it around the paw. James then carries it to his home and talks to his parents about keeping it. After a long discussion they let the wolf stay. “I think I’ll name him Denver”, James said.

One month later, Denver was getting pretty big and strong. His bond with James had grown stronger by the day. They did everything together. One day James couldn’t find Denver and was worried. He looked everywhere. He decided to look in the forest. As James kept walking farther and farther from his house the daylight slowly turned to darkness.There was still no sight of Denver. James had lost track of time and was now late for dinner. He tried to think but the only thing that was in this thoughts were three words, “I am lost.” He decided to sleep under a tree for the night, luckily he had his lighter, gloves and some trail mix in his backpack.

The next morning he awoke to something licking his face. James opened his eyes to Denver. James was ecstatic, he started packing up his stuff for the walk home when Denver ran in the other direction. James quickly followed behind trying to catch up with Denver. It seemed like forever until Denver ran through some bushes. James couldn’t see what was ahead but he kept running.

The Call of The Wild is an amazing fictional story. It makes the reader want more and more. Although some main parts of the book are hard to understand at times, Jack London does a wonderful job of making it seem very realistic.

4 out of 5 stars.

Contributed by B. Anastasio

May 25th 2011