The Secret Journeys of Jack London, Book One: The Wild - Hardcover

Imagining author Jack London as a 17-year-old adventurer is the easy partafter all, its not far from the truth. Golden and Lebbons gamble is peppering their story with the fantastic and supernatural, and it pays off. In this gung-ho series starter, Jack enters into the Yukon gold rush. However, an early winter puts him and his new friends through the gauntlet: a raging river, a frigid season spent starving in an isolated cabin, capture into the gold-panning slave trade. And those are the good months! Golden and Lebbon write with a gritty assurance that brings the fantasy elementsmost notably, Jacks multiple face-offs with the mythic Wendigodown to earth. The books second half stretches into dark folktale territory, as Jack finds himself being rescued by a mysterious woman whose love forms a kind of prison. Connections to Londons real life are everywhere: a wolf acts as Jacks spirit guide, and he literally learns the call of the wild. Occasional sketches add a bit of cinematic drama. Best of all, this first chapter kicks the door wide open for almost anything in book two. Grades 7-10. --Daniel Kraus