In his novel, London told the story of the un-taming of Buck - of his travels deeper and deeper into his primitive self until, in the end, he is joyously alive and full in his wildness. In his non-fiction book, London detailed the world that civilization made - a world in which nearly half a million “creatures” were left on a human trash heap, left to find their way for as long as they could struggle, left to a miserable life and an early death. To my mind, there is a direct connection between the two books, and it has to do with a little-discussed aspect of The Call of the Wild. “ At this very moment, 450,000 of these creatures are dying miserably at the bottom of the social pit called ‘London.’ ”Ī month after writing The People of the Abyss, London was at work on the novel that made his name, The Call of the Wild. Of the city’s 6.2 million residents, one in 14 lived in grinding oppressive poverty. He’d spent seven weeks living there a few months earlier. The vocabulary and extra comprehension questions are very useful as well.In November, 1902, Jack London wrote his non-fiction investigative book The People of the Abyss about the life of the poor of the East End of London. My students’ writing improved because they are hyper focused on answering the discussion question and are actually using textual evidence to answer, because instead of 5-10 questions, they have one. says, “Students are thrilled to be talking about the book instead of doing a ton of comprehension questions. I’ll be purchasing more for the novels that I teach! We are only a few days in and the students are loving the socratic seminar setup and I, being a newbie with this type of discussion setup, am enjoying all of the instructions and lack of busywork for students to just get done. says, “I really appreciate how this unit is organized and how thought provoking it has been. I highly suggest all upper elementary ELA teachers look into your resources!” Easily able to teach all standards through reading notebook, vocabulary, discussion. I found this and I honestly wish I taught ELA so I could buy the rest of the novel studies and do them! This is the way you should teach ELA. says, “OBSESSED!!!! I am teaching summer school and I’m normally a math teacher but I am also teaching them ELA. Prep is quick and easy… Just review the guiding questions, print or display any reference materials, and you’re ready for an engaging and results-producing class period! There is no fluff and no busy work in my reading units. Yet it still gives you the flexibility to work with groups of students at their particular reading levels.

In this unit, your students will get tons of support and conversations from their peers, will be exposed to literature and vocabulary at or above their grade level, and become part of a reading community.

The call of the wild novel