12.27.2016

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

                                                Thanks to my very special granddaughter, Eloise Fairchild, for letting me check this book out of her personal library. I suspect I last borrowed it from the Linden Boulevard branch of the Queensborough Public Library sometime in the late 1950's.
                                                Buck, a 140-pound St. Bernard, was kidnapped and taken to the Yukon Territories, where he first experienced snow and was put in a harness.  He quickly adapted to the cold northland and became the strongest dog in the pack. Buck becomes the leader of the pack after a vicious fight with the ill-tempered Spitz. After further adventures, Buck was rescued from some incompetent owners by Thornton, a man of the wilderness with an excellent understanding of dogs. While Thornton mines for gold, Buck begins to explore the forest and socializes with a local timber wolf. Eventually, Buck joins the wolves and answers the call of the wild.
                                                 The Call of the Wild was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1903. It established London as a recognized writer and was thrice made into a movie. The fact that it is still in print over a century later is testament to its place in American literature.

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