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Adventure’s Callby Jan Burns

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Eleven-year-old Jack London stared in awe at the towering masts of the Arctic whalers, flat-bottomed Chinese junks with square sails, and trading schooners that rocked at anchor at theOakland, California, waterfront. He wished he could jump aboard one and sail away to find

adventure.

2Jack loved to read adventure books and sea stories. From the age of 10, he had worked to helpearn money for his family. Reading gave him hope that someday he’d find a better life for himself,

like some of the characters in the books he had read.

3 Young Jack read mornings, afternoons, and nights. “I read as I walked to and from school,” heonce said, “and I read at recess when the other children were playing.”

4 Eventually, Jack saved up enough money to buy a leaky boat, and taught himself to sail.Whenever he could, he sailed away alone, with a sack full of books.

The Call of the Sea

5When Jack was 17, he joined a hunting expedition headed for the coast of Japan. The three-

masted schooner Sophia Sutherland ran into a typhoon during Jack’s turn at the wheel. Hebattled the swift-running seas and kept the ship on course.

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When he returned home from his adventure, his mother persuaded him to enter a writing contestfor young people. The contest offered a $25 first prize. Jack vividly described how the schoonerhad heaved, shuddered, and rolled, and how the prow had pushed through the typhoon. He won

the contest. This prompted him to consider becoming a writer.

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To increase his vocabulary, he tried to memorize 20 new words every day. He wrote words andtheir meanings on slips of paper. Then he tucked them around his mirror frame or clipped them toa wire strung over his bed. This way he could read them the first thing in the morning and the last

thing at night.

8Jack tried to read all of the books written by successful writers of his day, especially RudyardKipling. He studied Kipling’s Just So Stories and The Jungle Book, and copied pages of thebooks by hand so he could get a feel for the way Kipling put words and sentences together.

9Despite his efforts to improve his vocabulary and writing style, editors and publishers rejectedeverything Jack wrote. If he could not publish his work and earn money, he knew he would have

to return to a different kind of work to make his living.Striking Gold

10 The 1897 Klondike gold rush changed Jack’s life. He joined the stampede to the Yukon territoryin Canada with others seeking wealth and adventure. When winter set in and the lakes and rivers

froze over, he and other gold seekers were forced to stay close to their cabins.

11At night men gathered together and talked. Jack was good at drawing people out, getting them

to tell their stories of digging for gold and traveling by dog team, and of their run-ins withhowling wolves. He also met Louis Bond, and learned about a special dog named Buck.

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When Jack realized he wasn’t going to find any gold, he decided to write and sell stories basedon his Yukon experiences. People in the United States seemed hungry for stories about thatharsh land. He went home and established a lifelong routine of writing at least one thousand

words every morning.

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Jack worked hard, mining his Yukon experiences for stories. One of the stories he started wasabout a dog named Buck that was stolen, then forced to become a sled dog in the frozen north.Jack became so absorbed in his writing that the work grew to book size. He tried to write in sucha way that his readers could see, feel, and hear the story. He wrote about the singing of the sledrunners on the icy trails, the white snow, the black forests, and the flaming aurora borealis. He

titled his book The Call of the Wild.

14 Jack’s book became one of the best-selling books in American literary history. It has been inprint continuously since 1903.

15Jack wondered why his earlier writing hadn’t succeeded. He finally reasoned, “I left out the mostimportant thing—some of my own heart—a part of myself.”

16Jack London’s adventures live on through his vibrant and realistic writing. During his life, hewrote more than fifty books and hundreds of short stories. His words still call readers to follow

him into the wild.“Adventure’s Call” by Jan Burns, illustrated by Denny Bond, from Highlights, January 2004.Copyright © Highlights for Children, Inc. Reproduced with permission.

Question #1Which writer inspired Jack London the most?

A Mark Twain

B Walt Whitman

C Herman Melville

D Rudyard Kipling

Question #2Which statement about Jack London is true?

A He had difficulty finding interesting books to read.

B He did not write from personal experience.

C He did not learn from other writers.

D He had difficulty publishing his first stories.

Question #3Based on the passage, which event was most important to Jack London’s career as a writer?

A learning how to sail

B reading books by successful writers

C joining a hunting expedition

D participating in the gold rush

Question #4After reading “Adventure’s Call,” the reader knows that Jack London

A felt that having an exciting adventure was more important that reading.

B wished someone would have gone sailing with him.

C knew his writing was very popular.

D had a strong desire to become a successful author.

Question #5According to the article, what lesson did Jack London learn from being an unsuccessful writer earlier inhis life?

A He was not writing in the style that people were used to.

B He was not writing about places people were interested in.

C His stories were not based on his own feelings and experiences.

D His stories did not include the new many words he learned each day.

Question #6What evidence best supports the conclusion that London’s stories still appeal to readers today?

A One book by London has been in print since 1903.

B Over the years London wrote more than fifty books.

C London based his stories on his own life experiences.

D London wrote both short stories and books.

Question #7Jack tried to learn new words by

A spending many hours reading every day.

B reading books written by the most successful writers of his time.

C writing words and their meanings on paper and memorizing them.

D copying words from pages of books written by his favorite authors.

Question #8In what way are all of the stories Jack wrote after the Klondike gold rush alike?

A They are all about mining for gold.

B They are all about a dog named Buck.

C They are based on his experiences at sea.

D They are based on his Yukon experiences.

Question #9According to Paragraph 13, which statement best explains why Jack London’s writing was appealing?

A He wrote in a style that appealed to the senses.

B He wrote about the experiences of others.

C He wrote in an unusual style.

D He wrote about wild animals.

Question #10How were Jack’s experiences at sea and his experiences in the Yukon alike?

A Both gave Jack time to read.

B Both gave Jack exciting adventures.

C Both placed Jack in harsh conditions.

D Both forced Jack to work in extreme weather.

Question #11Which sentence from the story tells the reader that Jack London was a popular writer?

A Jack worked hard, mining his Yukon experiences for stories.

B Jack’s book became one of the best-selling books in American literary history.

C During his life, he wrote more than fifty books and hundreds of short stories.

D His words still call readers to follow him into the wild.

Question #12Read the sentence.

Eleven-year-old Jack London stared in awe at the towering masts of the Arctic whalers, flat-bottomedChinese junks with square sails, trading schooners that rocked at the anchor at the Oakland, California,waterfront.What do the various types of ships most likely symbolize to Jack?

A telling a good story

B admiration for fishermen

C adventure on the high seas

D building a strong vocabulary