London, J., & Kleid, N. (adapted by). (2006). Jack London's The call of the wild: The graphic novel. New York, NY: Puffin Books.Original Author: Jack London
Website (not official): http://london.sonoma.edu/
Adapted By: Neil Kleid
Website: http://www.rantcomics.com/
Illustrated By: Alex Niño
Website: No illustrator website
Media Used: Pen and pencil sketches on a white background.
Summary: Follow Buck, in this graphic novel, as he is taken from his home and into the wild frozen Yukon. Taught the law of club and fang, Buck becomes a superior sled dog until abandoning civilization and joining a wolf pack.
My Personal Reaction: I loved this book as a teenager and it was really refreshing to reread it in a graphic novel format. The illustrator, Alex Nino, captured the movement and body language of the dogs in the story perfectly. The body language of the dogs also helps the reader to understand the dogs moods and feelings. The sketches are mostly outlines and facial expressions, light on details and scenery (which given the frozen white setting is appropriate). Kleid adapted the story well, managing to keep all of the main storyline (that I could remember) from the original story in the graphic novel. I can only imagine how much of a challenge it is to take a full length novel and shorten it to a cohesive graphic novel format. Some movies I know can't even accomplish that, and they have a lot more to work with. This graphic novel does successfully tell the story on its own alone but could also be used as a supplement to the original novel to further aide the reader's understanding.
"The Classics Revisited" Group Project - Check out our group's presentation of this and other literary classic graphic novel adaptations that we have suggested for high school students.
Fiction in Graphic Novel Format
Use of Sophisticated Language: (1) "Cunning, intelligent; virile and dangerous, he had become a thing of the wild." (2) "Buck watched with apprehension as they haphazardly loaded the sled."
Use of Simile: "And truly Buck was the fiend incarnate, raging at their heels and dragging them down like deer."
Use of Metaphor: "And truly Buck was the fiend incarnate, raging at their heels and dragging them down like deer."
Curricular Connection: 9th to 12th Grade Classic Literature
California Reading Standards for Literature for grades 6 to 12: Craft and structure - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; [for example the phrase "the law of club and fang"].
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