A. L. Kaplan

Tag: Jean Craighead George

  • For the Love of Canines: Wolves

    Wolf on RockGrowing up I read all sorts of animal books including those of Jack London, and Albert Payson Terhune, a local author who wrote about collies, and of course, Julie of the Wolves. So I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when I had a dream about wolves. It wasn’t an ordinary dream. It was one of those half-awake dreams where you can remember every little detail. I immediately wrote it down, and then began researching wolves. Until that moment, wolves were minor characters in stories, but I really didn’t know much about them. The more I learned, the more I liked. I now have a shelf full of fiction and non-fiction wolf books and wolf art decorates the house.

    Wolf

    This past summer I had the pleasure of visiting the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota. I’ve been a member since they were established. It was a wonderful experience to finally meet their ambassador wolves, Aiden and Denali. (Only a foot away through the glass wall.) I even got to meet their three retired ambassadors, Malik, Shadow, and Grizzer, on a behind the scenes tour. The biggest thrill, however, was listening to the wild wolves howl back to us on the Wolf Communication field trip. I guess Buck isn’t the only one who’s heard the call of the wild.

    International Wolf Center

    (Call of the Wild published in 1903, was written by Jack London. Julie of the Wolves published in 1972, was written by Jean Craighead George. A few Albert Payson Terhune books are still in print or as eBooks. My favorite was Gray Dawn, but Lad: A Dog published in 1919, is the most well-known.)

  • Inspiration to Write: Part 1

    Even before I picked up my first book I began writing stories in my mind. Just like the heroes in my favorite cartoons, I stood up for the innocent and persecuted, defeating the enemy with cunning and ingenuity. Animals were ever my companions on these adventures. The earliest were cats, no doubt a result of my attachment to Kimba the White Lion and Felix the Cat. (Yes, I had my own magic bag of tricks.) Felines quickly gave way to canines with the addition of a dog to my home (aptly named Tiger) and horses, a fascination that lasted well into high school.

    I learned to read with Clifford the Red Dog and my love of animals and the outdoors took off from there. Any story that had animals caught my eye and I whipped through books like My Friend Flicka and all the works of Albert Payson Terhune. Laura Ingles Wilder, James Herriot and Jack London were also among my favorite authors.

    Despite being terrified of the bugs on my first Girl Scout camping trip in third grade, I loved the outdoors and the thought of living in the wild fascinated me. Looking back now, I’d have to say that the three most influential books I read were, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, Julie of the Wolves, and My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George. All three are about kids living on their own in the wild. Knowing this, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my two favorite musicals are “Annie” and “Oliver”. I guess I have a thing for abandoned, or downtrodden orphaned kids with good hearts, struggling to survive.

    Animal and adventure stories were the mainstay of my reading diet until the beginning of high school. With some trepidation I began reading a book my Brother had given me the year before…and was immediately drawn into the world of fantasy. I finished reading the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in three weeks, then turned around and reread it, discussing and trading editorial notes with a friend.

    It’s not that elves and hobbits were new to me; I had seen an animated version of the Hobbit several years earlier and quite enjoyed it. I loved watching both fantasy and science fiction on TV and at the theatre, but I had never read any stories in either genre. It felt as though an entire new world had opened to me, and my propensity to daydream by popping into books, Gumby style, increased.