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Overview
In an Eskimo village at the top of the world lived a little boy whose name was Amaroq. Named for the great wolf leader who saved the life of his big sister, Julie, Amaroq loved wolves as much as his big sister did.
One day Julie brings home a sickly wolf pup named Nutik for Amaroq to feed and tend. "Don't fall in love with Nutik," Julie warns, "or your heart will break when the wolves come to take their pup home." Amaroq feeds and cares for Nutik, and soon the fuzzy little pup is romping and playing and following Amaroq everywhere. Amaroq and Nutik become best friends, but soon it's time for Nutik to rejoin his wolf family. Will Amaroq be strong like the great wolf leader he was named after and be able to let Nutik go?
In this adventure-first told in Julie's Wolf Pack, sequel to the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves Jean Craighead George brings the Arctic world of Julie and her family to a picturebook audience.
When his older sister Julie brings home two small wolf pups, Amaroq takes care of the one called Nutik and grows to love it, even though Julie tells him it cannot stay.
Synopsis
From the popular Arctic saga that began with the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and continued in Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack, here is a picture book featuring Julie's little brother, Amaroq.
When Julie brings home a sickly wolf pup named Nutik for Amaroq to feed and tend, she warns, "Don't fall in love with Nutik, or your heart will break when the wolves come to take their pup home." Amaroq helps Nutik recover, and soon the fuzzy little pup is romping and playing and following Amaroq everywhere. Amaroq and Nutik become best friends, but soon it's time for Nutik to rejoing his wolf family. Amaroq must be strong to let Nutik go, but Nutik has a surprise in store for everyone.
From an episode in Julie's Wolf Pack, this heartwarming adventure is full of fascinating information about life in the Arctic.
About the Author:
Jean Craighead George is the author of more than eighty favorite books for children, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and its sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack, as well as My Side of the Mountain, a Newbery Honor book. Her picture books include Look to the North;Morning, Noon, and Night; and the recently published How to Talk to Your Dog and How to Talk to Your Cat. She lives in Chappaqua, NY.
Ted Rand is the acclaimed illustrator of more than sixty picture books for children, including Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride, Storm on the Desert by Carolyn Lesser, Night Tree by Eve Bunting, and Baby in a Basket and the Salty Dog books written in collaboration with his wife, Gloria Rand. The Rands live on Mercer Island, WA.
Children's Literature
Amaroq's big sister Julie brings home two sickly wolf pups. She names one Nutik and gives it to her brother with a warning¾when the pups are fat and well, the wolves will come to claim them. And if you fall in love with your cub, when he leaves, your heart will break. But Julie (whom older readers already know from three previous novels) also gives Amaroq resolve by saying "Be strong," and he needs resolve, since he denies the wolves' first call to Nutik and then must accept the inevitability of Nutik's return to the pack. Rand's illustrations are dramatic and warm. Glowing pastel renditions of the Arctic tundra are bordered by the changing sky color as the summer months move toward fall. The wolves howling, their shaggy, gray surging shapes set against the dark sky after the sun has set in August, provides a strong contrast to the bright portrayal of Amaroq and his companion playing on the tundra. George structures the story so that Julie's wolf returns to the pack while, after a heart-wrenching departure, Amaroq's wolf returns to him, thus presenting nature and human interaction as working in several directions. There is no author's note to help the reader determine if this could or did actually happen. But the story's warmth, Julie's respect for the wolf pack that saved her life and the "happy" ending make this a child-pleaser and perhaps, for readers at the upper reaches of the book's appeal, an introduction to her Newbery Medal-winner, Julie of the Wolves. 2001, HarperCollins, $15.95 and $15.89. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Susan Hepler