"Howling" hello my name is Kaeleigh and welcome to intro to the call of the wild in this
video you'll learn how Jack London's amazing wilderness adventure was written
and a little bit about the author himself ready to venture into the great
wide open wild let's go John Griffith Jamie also known as Jack London was born
on January 12th 1876 in San Francisco California he was raised by his mother
and stepfather he completed school and later went to the University of
California at Berkeley his life was an amazing adventure London learned to love
reading at an early age since there was no television or internet back then
reading was a main form of entertainment and a nine year old Jack loved to escape
into stories he spent much of his time at the Auckland free public library he
said that his time there helped him to later become a writer
by the time London was 13 years old he was working at a canning factory up to
18 hours a day this type of incredibly hard work was
common for young teens at the time wanting a way out of such hard working
conditions London became an oyster pirate yes a pirate oyster pirates
raided oyster beds owned by large companies and stole their oysters then
they sold them to make money when he was 21 years old in 1897 he contacted his
biological father in Chicago in return London received a letter from him
stating that he couldn't be his father and that his mother was a liar this
devastated young Jack and he was so upset that he quit college and moved to
the Yukon in Canada this was during the great Klondike Gold Rush
over 100,000 people moved to the territory between 1896 to 1899 very few
found enough gold to become rich and many found none London began his writing
career at this time and wrote for magazines
in 1900 he made an amazing $2,500 for a year's worth of writing wait $2,500 is
an amazing amount well back then it was in today's money that would be about
seventy five thousand dollars London was well on his way to becoming a famous and
successful writer London's experiences in travelling saline and in the Yukon
prospecting for gold inspired much of his writing his famous novel the call of
the wild was written in 1903 like many stories of the day it was first
published as a serial story which is a story broken up into parts each part
appeared in a different edition of the magazine the famous magazine The
Saturday Evening Post carried his story people would start reading the story and
couldn't wait for the next issue to come out so they could read what happened
next the call of the wild is set in the Canadian Yukon and is about a dog named
buck sled dogs were very important to the gold prospectors at the time and
London was very familiar with them buck is a main character of the story it
tells of his harsh life from being stolen as a young dog who belonged to a
family in California to being sold in a service as a Gold Rush sled dog buck
turns back to a wild type of dog and endures a lot of hardships call the wild
was a huge hit for the moment that it was published and has never gone out of
print several movies have been made of it and it is still a very popular book
for both children and adults many say that Jack London's writing style helps
the reader feel as if they are right there alongside buck experiencing his
difficult adventures you can find copies of the called the wild at your
local library and online be sure to also play our fun online games and quizzes
about this amazing story have fun riding along with buck and remember to always
be clever