The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Macmillan - 1903
231 pages

Buck is a mix of a Saint Bernard and Scotch-Shepherd that has known nothing else than the comforting life of Judge's backyard. That is, until Miguel, a worker, has a debt to pay in gambling and can think of nothing else to give than his master's dog. Buck is shipped off to Seattle and is beaten by a man in a red sweater, giving him his first lesson in The Law of Club and Fang. Buck is bought by the French-Canadians Francois and Perrault, who make him part of a sled dog team. This begins Buck's adventure of changing masters and experiencing different levels of care.

Those that read The Call of the Wild told me this was going to be horrible, but I knew White Fang was excellent, so I decided that I should give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a great adventure novel. While Buck may be all-dog, unlike White Fang, I definitely think that the two of them could be lead dogs together. At the same time, The Call of the Wild is not exactly the same as White Fang. The former is shorter and about a dog uprooted from his comfortable life, whereas the latter is longer and about a wolf-dog that lived in the wild before joining the sled team. Once again, though, there is racism in the "Yeehats", an American Indian tribe that behaves stereotypically. They are also much more violent than the Indians in White Fang.

Grade: A-