Julie of the Wolves · Garden Heights

Part 2

for Julie of the Wolves · Part 2 · Part I · Learning to Speak Wolf

8 Parts40 min

What Happens in Part 2

Part 2 is where watching turns into speaking. Miyax works out that a wolf pack settles almost everything with the body, and that the signals of a low-ranking animal are the clearest of all because they have the most work to do. She copies them: she crawls, she whines, and she touches Amaroq under the chin in the gesture pups use with adults. He accepts her. She then uses her new standing on Jello, who is below her in the order, and he feeds her the way an adult wolf feeds a pup. She eats for the first time in days — not by stealing, but by being treated as family.

What We Will Learn

Section	What you will practice
Vocabulary	Words for rank and asking: submission, dominant, mimic, deliberate, humble…
Literary Elements	A turning point built out of a gesture, and an animal drawn without being made human
Cross-Curricular	Animal behavior — what a signal is, and why some are honest

Scene Summary

Scene	What happens
Reading the signals	Miyax stops watching in general and starts watching for particular things. She notices that Amaroq never has to fight for anything, that the others check his face before they act, and that a great deal of the pack’s business is done with the tail, the ears and the set of the shoulders. She copies what she sees, practising the gestures the low-ranking wolves use when they want something from the leader.
Becoming pack	She crawls toward Amaroq, whines the way a pup does, and reaches up to pat him under the chin — the plainest signal of submission a wolf can give. He accepts it. Later she presses the same advantage with Jello, the lowest-ranking wolf, and stands over him until he brings up meat from his own stomach for her, the way an adult wolf feeds a pup. It is the first food she has had in days, and she has been given it as a member of the family rather than taken it as a thief.

Scene

What happens

Reading the signals

Miyax stops watching in general and starts watching for particular things. She notices that Amaroq never has to fight for anything, that the others check his face before they act, and that a great deal of the pack’s business is done with the tail, the ears and the set of the shoulders. She copies what she sees, practising the gestures the low-ranking wolves use when they want something from the leader.

Becoming pack

She crawls toward Amaroq, whines the way a pup does, and reaches up to pat him under the chin — the plainest signal of submission a wolf can give. He accepts it. Later she presses the same advantage with Jello, the lowest-ranking wolf, and stands over him until he brings up meat from his own stomach for her, the way an adult wolf feeds a pup. It is the first food she has had in days, and she has been given it as a member of the family rather than taken it as a thief.

Part 1

Vocabulary

Study 10 key words from Part I · Learning to Speak Wolf, then answer each question.

🐾Knowledge Bank · The Words of Rank

Social Behavior · Words for OrderThis section needs a vocabulary for who is above whom. A dominant animal holds the highest position in a group, and the surest sign of it in a wolf pack is that the dominant animal almost never has to fight; the others simply defer. Rank is the position each member holds relative to the rest, and it decides small daily things like who eats first and who steps aside on a narrow path. To mimic is to copy the way another creature behaves, which is the only tool Miyax has, since she cannot ask a wolf anything in words. A gesture is a movement of the body that carries meaning, and a signal is anything done in order to send a message at all. Notice that none of these words are about strength. Every one of them is about position, which is what the pack actually runs on.

dominantadj.Pt.I

Holding the highest position in a group

“The dominant wolf never has to prove it.”

mimicv.Pt.I

To copy the way somebody or something behaves

“She had to mimic the pups before Amaroq would answer.”

deliberateadj.Pt.I

Done slowly and on purpose, not by accident

“Every movement she made was deliberate.”

humbleadj.Pt.I

Making yourself low rather than proud

“A humble posture was the only greeting he would accept.”

gesturen.Pt.I

A movement of the body that carries a meaning

“The chin pat is a gesture, not an accident.”

rankn.Pt.I

A position above or below others in a group

“Jello held the lowest rank in the pack.”

cautiousadj.Pt.I

Careful, because something could go wrong

“She was cautious about approaching too fast.”

signaln.Pt.I

Something done or shown in order to send a message

“A flattened ear is a signal every wolf understands.”

nourishv.Pt.I

To feed something so that it stays alive and grows

“The meat was enough to nourish her for a day.”

acceptv.Pt.I

To agree to take or allow something

“Amaroq had to accept her before the pack would.”

ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.

1The animal holding the highest position in a group is the ___ one.Pt.I

2To copy the way somebody else behaves is to ___ them.Pt.I

3Something deliberate is done slowly and on purpose.Pt.I

4A movement of the body that carries a meaning is a ___.Pt.I

5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.I

Word choices:rankhumbleeagersignal- some words will not be used

A position above or below others in a group is your .

Something shown in order to send a message is a .

6To be humble is to make yourself seem grander than you are.Pt.I

7Someone who is careful because something could go wrong is ___.Pt.I

8To nourish something is to feed it so that it stays alive.Pt.I

9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.I

Word choices:mimicacceptrefusedeliberate- some words will not be used

Amaroq had to her before the rest of the pack would.

Every move she made was slow and .

10Making yourself low rather than proud is being ___.Pt.I

Part 2

Comprehension

Show you understood what happens in Part I · Learning to Speak Wolf.

🥔Knowledge Bank · Why a Wolf Brings Up Food

Zoology · Feeding the PackThe moment Jello brings up meat for Miyax looks strange to a reader and is completely ordinary to a wolf. Adult wolves carry food home in their stomachs rather than their mouths, which keeps both jaws free on a long run and hides the meal from ravens and foxes along the way. Back at the den the pups crowd the returning adult and lick at the corner of its mouth, and that licking is the trigger that brings the food back up. It is not sickness and it is not weakness; it is the pack’s delivery system, and it is how every wolf alive was fed before it could hunt for itself. Biologists call the behavior regurgitation, and it is one of the clearest signs that a pack is a family rather than a crowd of rivals. What Miyax does is borrow the trigger. By placing herself above Jello in the order and behaving as a hungry youngster does, she gets fed by a wolf that is only following its own instinct.

1How does Miyax first learn what the wolf gestures mean?Pt.I

2What does Miyax do to show Amaroq she accepts his rank?Pt.I

3How can the reader tell Amaroq is the leader?Pt.I

4Which wolf finally gives Miyax food?Pt.I

5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in this part. Number 1 = what happens first.Pt.I

She stands over Jello until he brings up meat for her.
She crawls to Amaroq, whines, and pats him under the chin.
Amaroq accepts the greeting and she is treated as pack.
She practises copying their gestures herself.
Miyax studies how the low-ranking wolves ask things of Amaroq.

6Jello gives Miyax meat by carrying it to her in his mouth.Pt.I

7Why is Miyax able to get food from Jello and not from Amaroq?Pt.I

8Amaroq refuses Miyax the first time she greets him.Pt.I

9Getting the meat matters most because it shows that Miyax ___.Pt.I

10Miyax invents her gestures rather than copying the wolves.Pt.I

Part 3

Literary Elements

Understanding HOW and WHY Jean Craighead George tells the story across Part I · Learning to Speak Wolf.

🤝Knowledge Bank · A Story That Turns on a Gesture

Literary Craft · The Small Decisive MomentMost stories put their turning point in something loud — an argument, a confession, a chase. This one puts it in a hand reaching up to touch a wolf under the chin. That choice is deliberate, and it works for a reason worth naming. A turning point only has to be large inside the world of its own story. The gesture is the largest possible action inside the world of the book, because in this world almost nothing is said aloud and everything is said with the body. A writer who understands the rules of the world they built can make a very small movement carry very heavy weight. Notice too that the moment is left unexplained: we are told what Amaroq does, not what he feels, so the reader has to supply the significance. That is the difference between a book that reports an event and one that makes you watch it happen.

A turning point in a gesture

The whole section turns on one small movement — a hand under a chin. The book makes a gesture carry the weight most stories give to a speech.

Animals kept animal

The wolves are given names and ranks but never words or human thoughts. Everything the reader learns about them is something a watcher could actually see.

Earned, not lucky

Miyax is fed because she worked out the rules and used them, not because a wolf happened to take pity on her. The book is careful about that difference.

1The wolves are never given human words or thoughts. That choice ___.Pt.I

2Fill in each blank with the correct term.Pt.I

Word choices:turning pointsettingrhymenarrator- some words will not be used

The moment a story changes direction is its .

The voice telling us the story is the .

3Putting the turning point in a small gesture rather than a speech ___.Pt.I

4The reader is told what Amaroq feels when Miyax touches his chin.Pt.I

5Miyax is fed because she understood the pack’s rules and used them.Pt.I

6Jello matters to the section mainly because ___.Pt.I

7Fill in the blank with the correct term.Pt.I

Word choices:symbolrhymechapterstanza- some words will not be used

An object or action that stands for a larger idea is a .

8This section ends with Miyax no closer to eating than she was before.Pt.I

9Copying the pups rather than the adults is important because ___.Pt.I

10This section mostly works to ___.Pt.I

Part 4

Think Deeper

Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.

📡Knowledge Bank · What Makes a Signal Worth Believing

Animal Behavior · Honest SignalsBiologists ask a hard question about animal communication: why should any signal be believed? If looking dangerous keeps rivals away, every animal should simply look dangerous all the time. The answer is that the signals that survive tend to be expensive or difficult to fake. A wolf that lowers its tail, folds its ears and crouches has genuinely given up its ability to strike first, so the display costs something real and is therefore credible. Cheap signals, by contrast, get copied by everybody until they mean nothing at all, and biologists then call them unreliable. This is why Miyax cannot simply wave at Amaroq. She has to make herself genuinely vulnerable in front of an animal that could hurt her, and the cost of that posture is exactly what makes it readable. Communication between two species with no shared language still runs on trust.

Think back over this section. A starving girl spends her time copying the smallest, most humble movements she can see — a crouch, a whine, a hand reaching up rather than out. Then she crawls toward an animal that could kill her and asks, in his language, to be let in. He lets her in. A little later a lower-ranking wolf feeds her exactly as it would feed a pup, and she eats for the first time in days.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1Claim: “This section argues that Miyax survives by joining the pack rather than by outsmarting it.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence

2Something Miyax copies, or Something the pack does on its own? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two

◄ Something Miyax copiesSomething the pack does on its own ►

3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect

Miyax watches which wolves defer to which→

She copies the gestures a pup uses→

Amaroq accepts her→

She stands over Jello as a higher-ranking wolf would→

4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument

According to the passage, a wolf's crouch is believed by other wolves because , which shows that .

Part 5

Standardized Test

Reading passage · Why Animals Believe Each Other · Words in Context & Central Ideas · SAT & TOEFL-style practice

🎯 What this section practices

You already have these skills from the sections above — here they appear in the exact question types the SAT and TOEFL use. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.

SATCentral Ideas — the main point of the passage as a whole
TOEFLFactual Information — a fact stated directly in the passage
SATWords in Context — what a word means the way this passage uses it
SATInference — a conclusion the passage supports without ever stating it outright
TOEFLProse Summary — choosing the three sentences that capture the main ideas

Why Honest Signals Cost Something

Animal signals raise an awkward question. If looking large and dangerous keeps rivals away, why does every animal not simply look large and dangerous all the time? Biologists answer that the signals which last are the ones that are hard or expensive to fake. A display that costs the sender something real is a display the receiver can afford to believe.

Consider the crouch a low-ranking wolf uses. Folding the ears, dropping the tail and lowering the body genuinely removes the animal's ability to strike first, so the posture is not a claim but a surrender of advantage. That cost is what makes it a credible signal. A stag's roar works the same way: only a large chest can produce a deep enough sound, so the roar reports a fact the rival cannot easily check by any other means.

Cheap signals behave differently. Where a display costs nothing, it tends to spread through a population until it stops carrying information, and biologists then describe the signal as having become unreliable. This is why so much animal communication settles on postures that are uncomfortable, exhausting or risky. The awkwardness is not a flaw in the system. It is the reason the system works at all, and it explains why a human being who wants a wolf to understand her must make herself genuinely vulnerable rather than merely wave.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Ideas

2According to the passage, a low-ranking wolf's crouch works because it ___.TOEFL · Factual Information

3As used in the passage, credible most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context

4The passage says a stag's roar reports a fact because ___.TOEFL · Factual Information

5It can be inferred that a signal which costs nothing will eventually ___.SAT · Inference

6As used in the passage, unreliable most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context

7Which of these does the passage give as an example of a costly signal?TOEFL · Factual Information

8Prose Summary (TOEFL). Animal signals are believed when they are costly to send, and cheap signals lose their meaning. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary

9The passage suggests that awkward or risky postures are common because ___.SAT · Inference

10As used in the last sentence, vulnerable most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context

Part 6 · Optional

Creative Writing

A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.

About This Section

This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!

Writing Task — Part 2 “Asking the Right Way”

Miyax gets what she needs not by demanding it but by asking in the exact way Amaroq understands. Write about a time you had to ask for something carefully, or about a time the way you asked changed the answer you got. What did you have to understand about the other person first? 5–8 sentences. End with one piece of advice about how to ask for something well.

You can start with: “The most important thing about asking for something is...”

0 / 40 words minimum

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.

Part 2 Complete!

You finished Part I · Learning to Speak Wolf of Julie of the Wolves.

Here are your auto-graded results:

-

points out of 100

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

Teach it to someone

The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.

Move on to Part 3 →

Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Jean Craighead George. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Jean Craighead George’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.