Baree: The Wolf Dog, with eBook

Baree, the son of a grey wolf and a black dog, was born in the vast Canadian wilderness. He learns about nature and his fellow animals by trial and error--fighting with owls and playing with beavers. Being alone in the wild, he desperately seeks to join a pack of wolves, but they see him as a dog, and he is driven away. If the wolves are treacherous, Baree soon learns that humans are worse. He is shot, beaten, and trapped, but he soon learns to take care of himself. After fighting alone against the world, Baree befriends an indian maiden, Nepeese, and he finds his purpose in life.

About the Author :
James Oliver Curwood (1878-1927) was born in Owosso, Michigan, in 1878, where he lived for most of his life. His father was a cobbler and owned a small shop, but this failed when James was six years old. For the next seven years the family lived on a remote farm, and James's job was to pick up stones. Later in life he pointed to these rough years as having helped to build his character. Despite being expelled from high school in the tenth grade, Curwood passed the entrance exams to the University of Michigan, where he studied journalism. Two years later, in 1900, he left the university and married Cora Leon Johnson. This was also the year he sold his first story, "Across the Range," for five dollars. He went to work for the Detroit News-Tribune covering funerals and for a pharmaceutical company until he was able to support himself through his writing. In 1909 Curwood divorced Cora and married Ethel Greenwood. That was also the year he took his first trip into the Canadian Northwest and thereafter would spend up to six months each year in the arctic wilderness. This was where he set some of his most successful books. While on a hunting trip in the Rockies, Curwood stalked a bear for three weeks. As he moved in for the kill, he slipped and broke his gun. The bear reared up over Curwood, then left him unharmed. That day Curwood turned away from hunting and became an ardent conservationist. By 1919, when he wrote The River's End, Curwood was one of the most successful writers in North America. He eventually earned over $1,000,000, which enabled him to build a Norman chateau along the banks of the Shiawassee River, now the official James Curwood Museum. Despite being obsessed with his health, and declaring that he would "live to be 100," he died of blood poisoning at age 49, in 1927. Over his lifetime, Curwood wrote over 30 books. Among them were The Grizzly King, The Wolf Hunters, The Alaskan, The Country Beyond, and Son of the Forests. Patrick Lawlor is a classically trained stage actor, with over two hundred seventy-five audiobook narrations to his credit, including works by T. Jefferson Parker, W.E.B. Griffin, and Robert Crais. He has done countless plays, readings, and radio plays throughout the country. He can be seen in several feature films and television series.

Review :
"A timeless tale...Curwood captures the simplicity and beauty of nature without becoming sentimental." -- "Booklist" "Baree's dramatic coming of age entails such key moments as letting out his first wolf howl; realizing that there are creatures more powerful than he in the wild; and having a pack of wolves turn on him...A sensitively written novel--about life in the wild and especially about how animals may perceive experiences--that's bound to find fans." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Cliffhanging adventures abound for Baree through the course of the story, and Curwood's natural storytelling abilities coupled with his knowledge of the wilderness makes them realistic and believable. This is an exciting, colorful tale that...ranks with the work of Jack London." -- "VOYA" "One of the most engaging novels you will ever read." -- "Family Bookshelf"