Julie of the Wolves Novel Summary

It is summertime and Julie is alone on the tundra. She has run away from an arranged marriage with a boy named Daniel to go find her pen pal, Amy. She has been out on the tundra for many days and found a pack of wolves. She sits there watching them, trying to learn how they communicate and exchange food. She does this with the hope that she can get food from them and survive.

Over the course of many days, she begins to understand them and gain their trust. She also gave them names that reflect what she observes about them. She also learns how to tell them many different things, such as I’m friendly, I’m in charge, and I’m afraid. In her “spare time” she scavenges food. It is the summer, and for now Julie has it easy.

A few days later, as Julie was heading back to her camp she got to put these signals to use when she encountered Amaroq and the other adult leaders of the pack. She approached them, and told Amaroq in wolf signals that she was one of their pack. Amaroq then took her into his pack!

The next day, Julie learned the signal to get meat from the adult wolves. However, when she tried to use the signal to to get food from Jello, the lowest adult member of the pack he backed away from her. However, her efforts were not wasted, as Kapu got her meat from Jello.

Many days later, she was called to the wolf den by Amaroq. She went to sleep with the wolves. She had just awoken and was preparing to go back to her camp when it happened. A thick fog appeared on the horizon and spread quickly through her camp and up the frost heave to the wolves den. These fogs were common during the arctic summer, and they sweep in from the ocean and can last only an hour, or for many days. She used the growth around the pond by her camp to find her way back, and gathered some more food from around the pond.

Some days later, a caribou wandered to the wolf den. The wolves quickly killed it, and the wolf pups got to eat fresh meat for the first time. After the pack had finished eating, Julie went out to the wolf kill, only to discover that Jello had not eaten yet. She then waited some more, and when Jello was done, she went out to the kill. First, Julie payed tribute to the spirit of the caribou. Second, Julie skinned the caribou. Next, she started cutting the meat into strips and smoking it for her journey.

As Julie was preparing to leave, the wolves prepared too. The pups were allowed to explore moe and more, and Jello was becoming more distanced from the pack. Some time later, when Julie was finally ready to leave she called to the wolves, but they were already gone.

That night Julie thought about what waited for her in San Francisco and slept with Amy’s letter by her head.

When Miyax was 4, her mother died. That day, her father Kapugen had taken her hand, left his position in the village, and walked her all the way to seal camp.

Miyax fondly remembers the years at seal camp. There, she experienced and learned much, found happiness and spent time with her father.

One day, her aunt Martha arrived at their house. She brought with her a piece of paper that said that Miyax had to go to school and Kapugen had to go to war. That night, Kapugen made arrangements with Naka so that if she wanted to get away from school with Martha she could go and mary Daniel. The next morning, Miyax left with Martha, and became Julie.

About a month or so later, as Julie was settling into school, Martha told her that Kapugen had gone seal hunting in his kayak and has not been seen since a month ago on this day.

Some time later, a man called Mr. Pollock came into the town. He came to her and gave her a letter from his daughter Amy who wanted a pen pal. The letters from Amy soon became the highlight of her weeks.

One morning in June, Julie received word from Naka that she could come and mary his son, Daniel. Julie said yes, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs made arrangements for her to leave the next morning. The next morning, she flew to Barrow, and the next day she got married to Daniel.

After that, Julie started settling into life at Barrow. She would spend her days sewing with Nusan, Naka’s wife and had little interaction with Daniel.

Many days later, Daniel came home after being teased about not mating with his wife, Julie. Then, he tried to kiss her. Julie tried to back away and fell on the floor. Next, Daniel pinned her down and forcefully kissed her. That night, Julie ran away.

One night, as Julie was continuing on her journey to San Francisco Jello cane to her camp and stole her pack that had her boots and survival tools in it. Julie was able to get the pack back and in doing so, discovered Jello dead beside it, killed by the rest of the pack for stealing food from Julie.

As Julie continued onward, she saw the first snow and was able to learn many things from what she saw and experienced. One day, a juvenile golden plover came into her tent. Julie took the bird in, fed him, and named him Tornait, the bird spirit. And so he became her companion.

A while later on the journey, Julie encountered Amaroq and Kapu. Amaroq started leading Kapu off somewhere and Julie tried to follow, but Amaroq stopped her with a glare. This led her to believe that Amaroq was training Kapu in the ways of a pack leader.

A few days later, Julie heard an airplane. It had hunters in it. Afraid she looked like an animal, Julie went and hid behind an oil drum. While peeking out from beside it, Julie witnessed Kapu get shot. It was a shoulder wound, and she helped to hide him under the snow so he wouldn’t get shot again. Meanwhile the hunter was still shooting his gun at Amaroq, and in doing so, brought the mighty wolf down. Then, the hunter zoomed off in his airplane, leaving behind Amaroq’s body. Using her skills as an Eskimo, Julie was able to heal Kapu, but not the hole Amaroq had left in her heart. She missed him, and like the rest of the pack, was in mourning.

A few weeks later, Silver came to the door of her tent with a rabbit for her. When Silver entered, she tried to prove her authority over Kapu, but he used signals to tell her he was leader. The next day, Kapu left her tent and went off with the rest of the wolf pack. That day, Julie decided that she would not go to San Francisco, but would live like the old Eskimos in the wilderness.

Some time later, some Eskimos out hunting came by her new winter house. She invited them in, and learned from them that her father, Kapugen was living in the nearby town of Kangik. This new information caused her to make the decision to go to the town and see her father again. And so she left to go find her father, but when she arrived at her Kapugen’s house, she saw a pilots helmet and goggles like those of the pilot piloting the plane that had the hunter on it that killed Amaroq. She ran back to her house by the river, but then Tornait died and she decided to go back and face her father.