Look to the North: A Wolf Pup Diary

by Jean Craighead George

Overview

Newbery Medalist Jean Craighead George lovingly tells the story of three wolf pups—from the moment they open their eyes to the time they lead the hunt. Lyrical passages in her wolf pup diary describe how the pups tumble and play and when they first learn to howl and talk wolk talk. Readers are reminded of the changes in nature that are happening in the lower 48 states as they "look to the north" to watch the wolf pups grow. Jean George's words and Lucia Washburn's breathtaking paintings give the reader a rare glimpse of one of nature's noblest creatures: the wolf.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064435109
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/18/1998
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,008,361
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jean Craighead George wrote over one hundred books for children and young adults. Her novel Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973, and she received a 1960 Newbery Honor for My Side of the Mountain. Born into a family of famous naturalists, Jean spent her entire career writing books that celebrated the natural world.

Lucia Washburn has illustrated more than a dozen books for children. Her Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science books include Dinosaur Tracks, Dinosaurs Big and Small, and Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers?, which has illustrations that "provide vivid visualizations of long-ago landscapes" (School Library Journal). Her other books include Look to the North by Jean Craighead George, a 1997 Parents' Choice Gold Award winner praised as "a fine addition to science collections" (ALA Booklist). When she travels, she and her family enjoy visiting the local museums to see their dinosaur collections. Being the mother of two children, she has a special fondness for Maiasaura. She lives in California with her family.

Editorial Reviews

I love Wolf pups. They have called me to Alaska's alpine tundras to lie on my stomach and watch them play. They have lured me west to my friend the wolf trainer's, to hold them and feed them from bottles. They have included me in their pup games in Alaska and Montana. I have howled with them in Minnesota. And I have kept notes on them. Why do they love them so? In these nursing, tumbling, fighting, and growing children of the wild I see all children. And they are wonderful. Look to the north and love them, too.

Jean Craighead George

K-Gr 3George uses a journal approach to illuminate the first 10+ months of life for three wolf pups born to an alpine tundra pack. Each entry in the "diary" is prefaced with a message (in colored inks) to readers/listeners living south of the area telling them how to keep "tundra-time" in the framework of their own seasons. "When you see dandelions turning silver...." "When the yellow warblers return...." "When you are eating fresh blueberries...." Then, George writes, "Look to the north" and in the following paragraph(s), she describes the pups, their gradual development, and their environment. The lyrical text is accompanied by large, realistic acrylic paintings of the adult wolves, the pups, and their habitat along with small cameos of the southern remindersa clump of dandelions, a yellow warbler (the illustrator should consult a Peterson guide), ripe blueberries, etc. The author's research is impeccable, and her affection for her subject evident, affirmed in a personal note. Children will take pleasure in the simply worded narrative and the warm pictures, and will store some accurate wolf data in their memories, as well as take stronger note of their own habitats as they keep an eye out for dandelions, for fresh blueberries on the table, and for Halloween jack-o-lanterns on front porches.Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

A charming but sentimental book about the first months in the lives of wolf pups, from birth to young adult. George (There's an Owl in the Shower, 1995, etc.) notes in the introduction that in the "nursing, tumbling, fighting, and growing children of the wild I see all children." The pups—Boulder, Scree, and Talus—play, chase, fight, challenge each other, develop specialties, learn to howl, hunt, and even care for an injured beta wolf. Talus, the smallest pup, rated the bottom of the pack, gains status because of his superior ability to sniff out game. Finally, the three of them wait for the next litter to be born. Children will enjoy the brief text and softly colored drawings of the pups, their parents, and baby-sitter. Washburn, in her first book, has created sweet tableaux of wolves in the wild: purple and lilac landscapes and fluffy, smiling wolves.

Kirkus Reviews