Substitute for Call of the Wild

[Haiku]

Suffice to say that my dd13 would read the first part, where Buck is beaten, and refuse to go further. What could I substitute that would also be a Yukon/adversity novel, or barring that, just a good substitution?

 

(I guess I could have her read all 1,000 pages of Robert W. Service's autobiography! ;) )

 

TIA!

[8filltheheart]

You could read London's "To Build a Fire" which is a short story. I am not sure I understand why she refused to read the rest, but Northwest Passage covers the theme (but it is gruesome in spots.}

[Haiku]

I am not sure I understand why she refused to read the rest, but Northwest Passage covers the theme (but it is gruesome in spots.}

 

She has not refused to read it; I haven't even given it to her yet. But I read it last year with an eye toward assigning it to her and realized that it would be unsuitable for her due to the violence. Dd is a vegan and a passionate animal lover, and the violence in the book would be too emotional for her.

[MolleenCarie]

We have the book linked below on our shelves and I believe one of my kids read it. I will see what he thought about it when he is awake.

 

http://bfbooks.com/Stampede-for-Gold-The-Story-of-the-Klondike-Rush?sc=17&category=851

[Miss Tick]

I loved To Light a Fire, but the main character (human) does not have a happy ending.

 

I recently saw White Fang packages with Call of the Wild. The dig moves from tame to wild in Call, and apparently the opposite happens in White Fang.

[Haiku]

Yes, but unfortunately there is also a lot of violence toward the wolf in White Fang.

[8filltheheart]

To Build a Fire would be a quick read for you. It isn't gruesome, but it does reveal the harshness of the climate of that part of the world and what occurs with poor judgment.

[Haiku]

Yes, I'm planning to include To Build a Fire. One of my favorites! 

[Chris in VA]

You know your dd best, of course--

 

I would suggest at least presenting her with the option.

 

Call of the Wild is really more about the idea of the Noble Savage--about humans--than about animals. It just uses the dogs as an illustration. So, in order to read it, maybe having some really rich discussions about her ideas of the effects of civilization, is "Man" naturally good, etc. would be an excellent opportunity for her to "go deep."

 

But maybe it's best left for a few years. Are you homeschooling high school? I like to pair CotW with Huck Finn, Scarlet Letter, excerps from Walden, and Lord of the Flies. They all deal with the NS idea.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I don't have any good suggestions, but I won't be assigning Call of the WIld or White Fang to my kids either.  Or Old Yeller, or Where The Red Fern Grows, or The Yearling . . . Or even Black Beauty for that matter.  I mean, it's on the shelf and they can read it if they want, but I won't assign it to them to read.  I read all this stuff as a kid and still can't get it out of my head, can't watch movies where animals suffer.  I don't get why this stuff is considered good literature for kids.  My girls adore animals and hate reading about violence and suffering of animals.  

[Ausmumof3]

I feel terrible as I recently gave white fang to my 8yo. I read it as a kid and remembered it having sad bits but not too terrible and he was in tears... Poor kid.

 

Looking for some happy feel good literature for my sensitive eight year old...

[Haiku]

Yeah, we're skipping Lord of the Flies, too. That book scarred me for life. :/

[Cheryl in CA]

I don't have any good suggestions, but I won't be assigning Call of the WIld or White Fang to my kids either.  Or Old Yeller, or Where The Red Fern Grows, or The Yearling . . . Or even Black Beauty for that matter.  I mean, it's on the shelf and they can read it if they want, but I won't assign it to them to read.  I read all this stuff as a kid and still can't get it out of my head, can't watch movies where animals suffer.  I don't get why this stuff is considered good literature for kids.  My girls adore animals and hate reading about violence and suffering of animals.  

 

This was my experience exactly, and why I didn't assign those kinds of books to my children either.  I didn't know anything about Where the Red Fern Grows until I was an adult and we were given the movie.  I had no idea what happened until it happened, and even as an adult in my late 30's I still found it quite disturbing. 

[Saddlemomma]

I haven't read any of the following, but they got good reviews.  Maybe one of them will work for you.

 

The Gold Rush Kid

Days of Gold

Mystery at Chilkoot Pass (shorter book)

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yeah, we're skipping Lord of the Flies, too. That book scarred me for life. :/

 

I know, right? And I recently re-read 1984, and am newly re-shocked that it shows up on so many middle-school reading lists here.  The rat scene was burned into my brain, and is just as horrible at 40+ as it was in my teens.

[My3girls]

Holy cow, every book ya'll have condemned is on our reading list. Lol. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. They all have such important lessons in them, I think. My daughter is an animal lover, but loves these books because they make her think, feel, and they even invoke that righteous anger sometimes. She gets the allegory and symbolism in them. She hasn't gotten to 1984 or Lord of the Flies yet, but they are coming up.

[Chris in VA]

Thankfully, there is enough lit out there to cover the important lessons in different ways.

A lot of growth takes place in the late teens, too--so what is not ok at 12 or 14  may be better at 17-18.

And maybe not.

You know your kiddo best!

[Mrs. Tharp]

How about a book by Gary Paulsen, like Hatchet? Winterdance, his memoir of competing in the Iditarod, is also excellent.

 

Wild Trek or Snow Dog by Jim Kjelgaard might also work.

[FarmingMomma]

I don't have any good suggestions, but I won't be assigning Call of the WIld or White Fang to my kids either.  Or Old Yeller, or Where The Red Fern Grows, or The Yearling . . . Or even Black Beauty for that matter.  I mean, it's on the shelf and they can read it if they want, but I won't assign it to them to read.  I read all this stuff as a kid and still can't get it out of my head, can't watch movies where animals suffer.  I don't get why this stuff is considered good literature for kids.  My girls adore animals and hate reading about violence and suffering of animals.  

 

My kids both loved Where the Red Fern Grows, even though they both cried.  It is a fantastic book.  My daughter (who had already read it once) was horrified when, while she was still in public school, the teacher read it aloud to the class and she was one of only two or three kids in the whole class that cried.  She's also read Old Yeller and Black Beauty.  Sometimes it's the sad books that are the best treasured and remembered.  My kids are now 12 and 8, and they both say Where the Red Fern Grows is their favorite book. 

[Haiku]

Thankfully, there is enough lit out there to cover the important lessons in different ways.

 

Yep. There are several books that I read as a kid that I really wish I wouldn't have read. I won't necessarily stop my dd from reading books that I think will upset her, but I am not going to assign them. I don't see a need to force books that will have a negative emotional impact (as opposed to books that are sad but end up being valuable, and I realize that everyone will have different opinions about which books belong in which category). My dd is a voracious reader, and she reads all types of books. We have had enough conversations about books that I have a pretty good handle on what will be meaningful to her and what will just be negative and sad. I won't assign those books even if they are on every literature reading list ever created.

 

I was forced to read Bridge to Terabithia when I was a kid even though I knew something bad (I didn't know what) would happen and even though the suspense was very upsetting to me. To this day I hate that book, I find little redeeming in it for young kids, and I wonder what that teacher was thinking in inflicting it on us.

 

Needless to say, my kids haven't read Bridge to Terabithia. ;)

[ScoutTN]

My Dd enjoyed Snow Dog.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yep. There are several books that I read as a kid that I really wish I wouldn't have read. I won't necessarily stop my dd from reading books that I think will upset her, but I am not going to assign them. I don't see a need to force books that will have a negative emotional impact (as opposed to books that are sad but end up being valuable, and I realize that everyone will have different opinions about which books belong in which category). My dd is a voracious reader, and she reads all types of books. We have had enough conversations about books that I have a pretty good handle on what will be meaningful to her and what will just be negative and sad. I won't assign those books even if they are on every literature reading list ever created.

 

I was forced to read Bridge to Terabithia when I was a kid even though I knew something bad (I didn't know what) would happen and even though the suspense was very upsetting to me. To this day I hate that book, I find little redeeming in it for young kids, and I wonder what that teacher was thinking in inflicting it on us.

 

Needless to say, my kids haven't read Bridge to Terabithia. ;)

 

To me this is the key.  I'm not going to force my kids to read books that I found emotionally traumatizing and that I wish I hadn't read.  They can read them if they want to.  If they ask my opinion, I will tell them that I found the book very (sad/disturbing/whatever) and it's up to them if they want to read it.    I'm not knocking them as literature or dissing other people's choices.  But this is how we'll do it at our house.

 

And - though I don't intend to diss other people's choices - I do think that there are some books you should read or re-read yourself before assigning to your kids, especially if the kids are sensitive.  You know your own kid best and can help them make good choices.  But only if you have the information yourself.

[Chris in VA]

I just want to add that handing a child a book to read is very different than discussing your way through it. And discussing only one's feelings and thoughts about the book is different than teaching/learning why an author made a certain choice when developing plot or character, or even names or specific words. That is, of course, why things like the historical or philosophical context of literature is so important. Unless you know about the whole Civilization corrupts vs Natural is better debate that was happening when CotW was written, it appears to just be a dog story. So when we do choose to read books with difficult content, I think we need to give back round and also see what points the author is trying to make.

[RootAnn]

Thought of this thread when I received an email recently asking for "best teaching plan" for using Call of the Wild in a classroom. It is a classroom set give-away based on a Big Read grant.  :lol:

 

I admit to liking White Fang better than CotW. We liked WtRFG -- if only for the cathartic tears. 

 

To stay on topic, have you looked at any others of Jack London's books for suitability? Here's the (short, mostly JL) list of novels-set-in-the-Yukon.

[Kalmia]

Having two kids on the opposite ends of the sensitivity spectrum, now I can see why some folks find it easy to discuss their way through difficult content in a book while others protect their children from books that would certainly result emotional trauma for them. My daughter can read anything no matter how horrible and react with "It's only a story, mom." Whereas my son is still upset 10 YEARS LATER by a (to him) terrifying picture of a troll like creature he was exposed to in a modern children's series. At the time he was shaking in fear, and he begged me to cut the picture out of the book and remove it from the house! It is interesting to note that he is the imaginative child and his sister is the practical child. This is not the only book I had to watch out for over the years some of which have caused nightmares. I think if I only had my daughter, I too, would have no idea the depths of emotion possible within some children and the way they hold onto negative images for very long periods of time. So my daughter will be reading certain books long before my son was ever exposed to them. There are so many good books to choose from, that straying from the canon is certainly okay if you have a highly sensitive child. They may choose to read these upsetting books on their own or in class later when their ability to cope with their powerful feelings has developed more or they can control their tendency to imagine scenes in lifelike detail. And that is okay.

 

 

Have fun finding the books that are right for your child!

[kiwik]

I do not like Jack London. However of the ones I have read I liked CotW and White Fanh least. The others I don't remember at all but at least I didn't hate tgem.

[ThoughtfulMama]

I really loved the Jim Kjelgaard books as a preteen, but they probably have a similar level of violence.  It never bothered me.  What about something like Island of the Blue Dolphins?  Not snowy wilderness, but still survival.

[chelsmm]

Island of the Blue Dolphins has some really rough scenes too,though.  There is the fight on the beach at the start where her father is killed, and then later in the book when her brother is killed.  There is the killing of the otters, and the death of the wild dog who was her companion.  I re read this book as an adult becaues I remembered loving it as a kid, and I decided to hold off on giving it to my dd until she's a little older.  My dd is only 9, but she's not super sensitive.  A sensitive older child might have a tough time with this.

 

[Haiku]

Yes, my dd read Island of the Blue Dolphins for a book club, and she hated it.

[Guest Whitneymc]

Stickeen by John Muir is one of my favorite stories. It's about a man and a dog who are exploring a glacier and have to cross a crevasse in the ice at the risk of both their lives. Lots of suspense but a happy ending for both man and dog.

[In The Great White North]

I don't see the attraction of "To Build a Fire".  It should be retitled "What it Feels like to Freeze to Death"  I put it right up there with "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". 

 

[Bluegoat]

Maybe Julie of the Wolves or Lost in the Barrens?  Possibly My Side of the Mountain, or Hatchet?  You also might look at some biography rather than fiction, there are lots of good biographies of people who have gone off to live in the wilderness.

 

I think that a lot of these books that are set in nature have some aspects that a lot of kids who like animals would consider difficult.    However, it may be that the questions some of those stories are getting at are probably going to be most meaninful to people who love nature.  It's easy to be sentimental about nature when you have some distance from it, and sentimentality can be real emotion, but it also depends on not looking too closey at certain things.  A novel can be a way for a young person who may not have much opportunity to come in contact with those questions in life to confront them.

[Lori D.]

Holy cow, every book ya'll have condemned is on our reading list… They all have such important lessons in them, I think. My daughter is an animal lover, but loves these books because they make her think, feel, and they even invoke that righteous anger sometimes. She gets the allegory and symbolism in them. She hasn't gotten to 1984 or Lord of the Flies yet, but they are coming up.

 

 

Preface: NOT directing this post at My3girls -- her post just triggered some broader thoughts I felt compelled to share!! :) So, kudos to you My3girls for seeing your DD's ability/level and providing works at the age/stage that is appropriate for her!

_____________________________

 

Each parent knows your students the best, and I'm not at all trying to tell you what to do. :) This is totally just a general FWIW thought, take it or leave it ;) :

 

1984

Brave New World

Lord of the Flies

All Quiet on the Western Front

Life of Pi

(and other works written for adults that became standard high school reading and in the past decade have now been shifted down to frequently appear on middle school reading lists)

 

Just would encourage parents to consider previewing some of these first, and see if doing them later in high school might yield more fruitful discussion, with a more mature student who has gained more experience with literary analysis and literature discussion. It would also allow for the student to have gained more exposure to world events and history to have a broader context for these types of works, as well as more exposure to real-life experiences to make connections (their own, and seeing circumstances and choices of people around them).

 

I totally agree with the important lessons to be learned from these types of works -- I'm just throwing out the comment that it's equally important to consider *timing* -- when would each individual student get the most out of some of these works? AND… to know your student well enough to know that some works may be completely NOT appropriate for them at any year of middle school or high school.And that's good!  :) For example, if animals getting hurt would destroy your student, then why would you inflict that on them? You can explore the theme of Naturalism in Call of the Wild in other works -- say, Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" or The Red Badge of Courage.

 

More about timing:

I say this out of experience with our own DSs, who were by NO means "shrinking violets"  :laugh:  about intense and psychological events and tough themes. But even more so, I say this from teaching a lit. & comp. class to grade 7-12 students. For example, we did Animal Farm a few weeks ago and just started Ender's Game; the reading level is fine for gr. 7 and up, BUT, I'm finding that the younger (gr. 7-9) students just don't have the maturity to connect with these works or get much out of them -- and not because they don't have a grasp on basic literary analysis.

 

It's the older high school students (gr. 10-11) who are really digging in and making a lot of connections because they have a lot more history studies under their belts, and they are "getting" a lot of the socio-political ideas embedded in these types of works that are mostly passing right over the heads of the younger students. And, unfortunately, it's unlikely that the younger students will come back to these works in a few years for re-reading when they would have more maturity to get more out of these...

 

Just a random thought: If planning on Lord of the Flies and 1984 and others because of wanting to do some dystopia right now because of student interest, possibly consider some works that are a bit more at the middle school level, such as:

 

- Below the Root (Snyder)

- The Giver (Lowry) -- and sequels

- City of Ember, People of Spark (duPrau)

- When the Tripods Came (Christopher) -- and sequels

- Gregor the Overlander (Collins)

- Uglies (Westerfeld)

- or even possibly House of the Scorpion (Farmer), Hunger Games (Collins), Maze Runner (Dashner), etc.

- Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- although, his unique style and heavy amount of allusions can make this stiff going for some readers

 

The stories are at a more simple, less intense level, which gives you the opportunity to walk through discussion on the themes, which tend to run pretty close to the surface. Also, these books all involve tween/teen protagonists, which makes for much higher interest and easier connection for a middle school reader. For example, 1984 has a middle-aged protagonist, which brings a huge layer of depth, meaning, connection, personal application to ME as a similar-aged reader that is completely opaque to tween/young teen readers…

 

Also, I think there is a LOT more going on in Lord of the Flies and 1984 and others than "just" dystopia. I think those other things can easily never appear on the radar of a tween/teen who is on a dystopia reading kick… If, as a parent, I want to explore those other ideas and themes, then waiting on these layered books, or at least doing them together and digging into them, will be necessary, rather than including them on the dystopia reading list for the student to explore solo. JMO!! ;)

 

 

Anyways, I'm NOT saying don't read these books -- because your student may be really ready for them, and have built up to them, and will get a lot out of them -- yea! I just hate to see these classic works continually slide to younger and younger ages just because "public schools are doing it", or, "it shows rigor", etc.

 

And not at ALL thinking that anyone on this Board is doing this, but there's such a big difference between reading a book to check it off the big-long "must read" classics list, and reading to wrestle, be challenged, to make connections, to learn/grow/gain personal applications from the Literature -- to engage in the Great Conversation with the Great Books. :)

 

BEST of luck to all in determining which books -- and when -- are best for your family's journey with Literature! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[kiana]

I like the idea of My Side of the Mountain. I do think he eats meat in there, but as I recall, there aren't animals that you grow attached to going off and dying, or scenes of gratuitous cruelty towards them.