Julie and The Wolves by Jean Craighead George

I chose the book at random off the list of Newberry Award Winners. Not entirely sure what brought me to this book or why it stood out to me, but I am fairly glad it did. I personally love stories of human survival and perseverance, and for the most part that is what this book was about. Miyax, a young Eskimo girl has run off from her life in Barrow Alaska. In order to get an education, Miyax had to leave her father and his tribe to live with her more Americanized aunt who referred to her as Julie. Eventually, to escape her aunt, Miyax marries Daniel, the son of family friends to her father, but this too is a prison. So finally Miyax decides to run away to Point Hope where a ship called "The North Star" comes to port. She thinks that she will be able to get a job of some sort on the ship and travel to San Fransisco where she will live with her pen pal Amy, but Point Hope is a long way off and she has very few supplies. At the point of starvation she finds a pack of wolves, and uses the knowledge of her fathers ancient ways and observation to become a part of the pact. She eventually travels with the wolves to her destination but the book leaves you wondering what path she ends up taking. I thought that this was a great story and that it had very interesting insight into Eskimo culture, but upon researching the book I found out that it is pact with inaccuracies that are apparently insulting to the particular tribe, the Inupiaq tribe, that Miyax is supposedly a member of. One such being the fact that the Inupiaq tribe doesn't even use the letter "x" so Miyax name doesn't even make sense. I have to admit I was a little disappointed upon learning about these inaccuracies, but regardless it was still an entertaining read that kept my attention through out the book. I would recommend it, but warn readers to take the "facts" presented with a grain of salt.