That was around the time the little town I grew up in got it's first ever public library. I was so taken in by "The Call of the Wild" that I wrote to the state of Alaska & asked for a state map, which was up on my bedroom wall for yrs. I ended up reading most of the Jack London novels but none effected me as much as that first one!
Oddly enough I had never read anything by him until 3 years ago, and then I discovered his short stories. He was a phenomenal writer. I love his far north stories, but also the ones about Hawaii and his adventures in the Fish Patrol in the bay area of CA. I have also read (and loved) his book about his days as a tramp, and John Barleycorn, "memoir of an alcoholic." I think Barleycorn was maybe his best writing. I have worn out the paperback and just recently got a hardback. He sure did a lot in his short 40 years on this earth.
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It probably couldn't happen today that "The Call of the Wild" would have such an effect on a 10 yr old boy. The world has moved on. But for me it was the perfect time to be reading it (Alaska was a fairly new state & the last of a wild frontier), I had a bad case of wanderlust (growing up in a small town) & I was just discovering books for the first time. Reading it was definitely a rite of passage for me.
