jean craighead george julie of the wolves

Dutton publishing company initially rejected her manuscript on the grounds that it would encourage would-īe runaways. George described the boy’s exploits so convincingly that an executive at the E.P. And like the Craighead children, Sam learns to builds lean-tos, forage in the woods and whittle fish hooks from twigs. George’s twin brothers, who grew up to become leading American scholars of grizzly bears, were falconers as teenagers.

In the wild, Sam’s closest companion is a falcon. “It took me only two weeks to write,” she once said of the book in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor. George for the scientific expertise that suffuses nearly all her writings, including “My Side of the Mountain.” She shrugged off the praise. Mary Harris Russell, an expert in children’s literature, once described the volume as “part ‘Walden,’ part ‘Swiss Family Robinson.’ ” George rose to national prominence in 1959 with the publication of “My Side of the Mountain,” a novel that chronicles the experience of young Sam Gribley as he runs away from his New York City apartment for a life of self-reliance in the Catskills.

George began writing just as the construction of highways and suburbs began to transform American life and childhood in the 1950s. George’s books, “Julie of the Wolves” possesses all the ruggedness of “The Call of the Wild” and other turn-of-the-century works by Jack London. “Julie of the Wolves,” a novel about a 13-year-old Eskimo runaway who is welcomed by a wolf pack in the Alaskan tundra, received the 1973 Newbery Medal for the “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” Her novels and picture books - more than 100 - have sold millions of copies.

She often credited her frequent childhood expeditions along the Potomac River with inspiring her lifelong love of the wild. George had lived for the past five decades in a cedar-shingle house in the woods of Chappaqua, N.Y. The cause was congestive heart failure, said her son Luke George.Ī Washington native, Ms.

Jean Craighead George, a children’s author widely regarded as one of the premier American nature writers for young readers, died May 15 at a hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Jean craighead george julie of the wolves