Jack London

The Call of the Wild Jack London

Publisher Marketing: "Old longings nomadic leap, Chafing at custom's chain; Again from its brumal sleep Wakens the ferine strain." Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland. These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost. Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. Judge Miller's place, it was called. It stood back from the road, half hidden among the trees, through which glimpses could be caught of the wide cool veranda that ran around its four sides. The house was approached by gravelled driveways which wound about through wide-spreading lawns and under the interlacing boughs of tall poplars. At the rear things were on even a more spacious scale than at the front. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches. Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon. Review Citations: School Library Journal 02/01/2014 pg. 58 (EAN 9781629230306, Compact Disc) Contributor Bio:  London, Jack Jack London was an American author, journalist, and adventurer. London's early careers as sailor, fisherman, and prospector provided inspiration for his later writing, and it was only when he returned from the Klondike that London decided to focus on social activism and journalism. He soon became a popular magazine columnist and author, and a prolific commercial writer, penning over two dozen novels, and numerous short stories and poems. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf, and the short stories "To Build a Fire," and "An Oddyssey of the North." London died in 1916.