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Julie of the Wolves · Garden Heights
Part 3
for Julie of the Wolves · Part 3 · Part I · The Sod House and the Pups
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 3
With food coming in, Miyax starts to build a life rather than merely survive a day. She cuts sod blocks and raises a low house, sets snares for birds, and gathers what the tundra provides, so that she is contributing instead of only receiving. She names the pups, and one of them — Kapu, named for her father — becomes a real companion. Then the light shortens and the caribou begin to move, and the wolves become restless. Part I closes with Miyax realising that the pack will migrate and that she cannot stay on the open slope through the winter.
What We Will Learn
Section
What you will practice
Vocabulary
Words for making a life outdoors: sod, snare, cache, migrate, resourceful…
Literary Elements
A quiet stretch after a crisis, and a name used to carry a whole relationship
Cross-Curricular
Arctic engineering — why a house of earth is warmer than a house of wood
Scene Summary
Scene
What happens
Settling in
Now that she is being fed, Miyax can think past the next meal. She cuts blocks of sod — earth held together by grass roots — and builds herself a low house of the kind her people have made for generations, and she begins snaring birds and gathering what the tundra offers so that she is not living entirely on what the wolves bring back. The pack hunts caribou nearby, and for a while girl and wolves keep house alongside one another.
Kapu and the pups
She names the pups and finds that one of them, whom she calls Kapu after her father Kapugen, seeks her out. He plays with her, tests her, and treats her as pack rather than as a visitor. Then the season turns. The days shorten, the caribou move, and the wolves grow restless in the way animals do before a long journey. Miyax understands what it means: the pack is going to travel, and she cannot survive an Arctic winter out here on the open slope.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Part I · The Sod House and the Pups, then answer each question.
🏔Knowledge Bank · Words for Making a Life Outdoors
Survival · Words of Shelter and FoodThis section swaps the vocabulary of fear for the vocabulary of work. Sod is a slab of earth held together by grass roots, and it is a building material rather than a scrap of ground; cut into blocks and stacked, it makes a wall. A snare is a loop of line set to catch an animal, and its great advantage is that it keeps working while the person who set it is asleep or somewhere else entirely. A cache is a hidden store of food kept against a day when there is none, which on the tundra is the difference between a good week and a fatal one. To migrate is to travel between regions as the seasons turn, and it is what the caribou and then the wolves are about to do. Every one of these words describes a way of getting ahead of tomorrow rather than surviving today, which is exactly what Miyax has become resourceful enough to do. Every one of them is a word for foresight.
sodn.Pt.I
A slab of earth held together by grass roots
“She cut sod blocks and stacked them into walls.”
denn.Pt.I
The sheltered place where an animal raises its young
“The pups tumbled out of the den at dawn.”
cariboun.Pt.I
The large Arctic deer that travel in great herds
“The pack followed the caribou across the slope.”
migratev.Pt.I
To travel from one region to another as the seasons change
“The herds migrate south before the dark comes.”
snaren.Pt.I
A loop of line set to catch an animal
“She set a snare at the edge of the grass.”
cachen.Pt.I
A hidden store of food kept for later
“A cache of birds would carry her a few more days.”
resourcefuladj.Pt.I
Good at finding ways to solve problems
“Resourceful is what she has to be, every hour.”
abundantadj.Pt.I
Present in large amounts
“Birds were abundant while the short summer lasted.”
companionn.Pt.I
Somebody, or some animal, you spend your time with
“Kapu became a companion rather than a wolf she watched.”
instinctn.Pt.I
Behavior an animal is born already knowing
“The restlessness before a journey is instinct.”
ⓘ 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.
1A slab of earth held together by grass roots is ___.Pt.I
2To travel from one region to another as the seasons change is to ___.Pt.I
3A snare is a loop of line set in order to catch an animal.Pt.I
4A hidden store of food kept for later is a ___.Pt.I
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.I
Word choices:denabundantscarceinstinct- some words will not be used
The sheltered place where an animal raises its young is a .
Something present in large amounts is .
6Somebody who is resourceful is good at finding ways to solve problems.Pt.I
7Behavior that an animal is born already knowing is ___.Pt.I
8Caribou are small Arctic birds that nest on the tundra.Pt.I
9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.I
Word choices:companionsnaresodstranger- some words will not be used
Somebody you spend your time with is a .
She set a at the edge of the grass to catch a bird.
10Somebody good at finding ways to solve problems is ___.Pt.I
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Part I · The Sod House and the Pups.
🧱Knowledge Bank · Why a House of Earth Is Warm
Engineering · Building on the TundraA sod house looks primitive and is in fact well engineered for its place. Wood is scarce on the North Slope, but earth bound by grass roots is everywhere, and it is a far better insulator than a plank wall of the same thickness, because the countless small air pockets trapped in soil and root slow heat from escaping. Traditional builders sank the floor slightly below ground level so the earth itself sheltered the walls, kept the roof low so there was less volume inside to warm, and set the entrance below the living floor so cold air, which sinks, could not climb in — a design usually called a cold trap. A single lamp and the bodies of the people inside were then enough to hold the temperature. None of that is guesswork. It is the accumulated result of generations of people testing what actually works.
1What does Miyax build for herself in this section?Pt.I
2Why does Miyax start snaring birds and gathering food?Pt.I
3Who is Kapu named after?Pt.I
4What does the pack hunt while Miyax sets up her camp?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 gives the wolf pups names of her own choosing.
The days shorten and the wolves grow restless to travel.
Kapu begins seeking her out and playing with her.
Miyax cuts blocks of sod and builds herself a low house.
She sets snares for birds and gathers food from the tundra.
6Kapu treats Miyax as a visitor rather than as one of the pack.Pt.I
7What tells Miyax that the pack is preparing to travel?Pt.I
8Miyax could safely spend the winter on the open slope if she chose to.Pt.I
9Naming the pups matters in this section because it shows Miyax ___.Pt.I
10Part I ends with Miyax settled and safe for the season.Pt.I
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY Jean Craighead George tells the story across Part I · The Sod House and the Pups.
🕒Knowledge Bank · The Calm Before the Loss
Literary Craft · PacingNothing very dramatic happens across these pages, and that is a decision rather than an accident. A story that runs at full tension from beginning to end exhausts a reader and, worse, flattens out: if everything is urgent, nothing is. So Jean Craighead George gives us building, snaring and play, and lets the reader settle into a life alongside Miyax. The purpose of that calm is entirely strategic, and it has a name: writers call it building investment, the reader's stake in how things turn out. A loss only hurts in proportion to what the reader was shown beforehand, so the quiet pages are an investment the ending will spend. Watch how the pacing tightens in the final paragraphs as the light shortens and the wolves grow restless. The section has taught the reader to want something, and then set a clock ticking.
The quiet stretch
After the crisis of the first two sections, the story slows down: building, snaring, playing. The calm is not filler — it is what makes the loss at the end land.
A name doing the work
Calling the pup Kapu, after her father, ties her wolf family to her human one in a single word and sets up everything Part III will do with Kapugen.
The season as a clock
Shortening light and moving caribou tell the reader time is running out without a single sentence about dates or deadlines.
1Slowing the story down for this quieter section mainly ___.Pt.I
2Fill in each blank with the correct term.Pt.I
Word choices:foreshadowingsettingrhymenarrator- some words will not be used
A hint an author drops about what is coming is .
The time and place a story happens in is its .
3Naming the pup Kapu after her father does the work of ___.Pt.I
4The shortening days work in the story as a kind of clock.Pt.I
5The reader is told directly that Miyax is going to lose the pack.Pt.I
6Miyax hunting her own birds instead of waiting for meat shows that she ___.Pt.I
7Fill in the blank with the correct term.Pt.I
Word choices:moodrhymechapterstanza- some words will not be used
The feeling a passage creates in a reader is its .
8The calm of this section makes the ending of Part I feel less serious.Pt.I
9Part I ending just as the pack prepares to leave is effective 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 · Why the Herds Move
Ecology · Caribou MigrationThe wolves do not grow restless for no reason; they are tied to an animal that moves. Barren ground caribou make one of the longest land migrations on Earth, traveling hundreds of kilometers (miles) between the coastal plain where the calves are born in spring and the sheltered inland country where the herds spend the winter. They go north for the brief flush of summer plants and for the wind that keeps the mosquitoes down, and they go south again when the snow deepens and the feeding gets hard. Wolves follow because caribou are the food supply, which means the pack's calendar is not really its own but borrowed from the herd. Biologists describe the two animals as tightly coupled: change what the caribou do and the wolves must change with them. Understanding this makes Miyax's situation clear: she is not being abandoned by animals that stopped caring, she is standing in the path of an ecosystem that is about to move without her.
Think back over this section. A girl who was starving two weeks ago is now cutting blocks of earth into walls, setting snares that catch birds while she sleeps, and playing with a wolf pup she has named after her father. Nothing dramatic happens. Then the light starts going earlier each day, the caribou begin to shift, and the wolves get restless in a way she recognizes.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “This section shows Miyax moving from surviving each day to preparing for the future.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Something Miyax makes or does, or Something the season or the animals do? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ Something Miyax makes or doesSomething the season or the animals do ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
Miyax is being fed regularly by the pack→
She cuts sod and raises a low house→
She gives the pups names→
The light shortens and the caribou move→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
According to the passage, a sod house is warmer than a plank house of the same thickness because , which shows that .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Reading passage · How a House of Earth Holds Heat · 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
Building a Sod House for Warmth
On the Arctic coastal plain there is almost no wood, so people built with what the ground offered. Blocks of sod cut from the tundra were stacked into low walls, and the result is warmer than a plank house of the same thickness. The reason is air: soil bound by grass roots is full of tiny pockets, and still air is one of the better materials for slowing heat.
The design does more work than the material alone. Builders sank the floor slightly below ground level so the surrounding earth sheltered the walls from the wind, and they kept the roof low so there was less air inside needing to be warmed. The entrance was set below the level of the living floor, which sounds awkward until you remember that cold air sinks; the cold settles in the passage and never climbs into the room. Engineers now call that arrangement a cold trap, and it costs nothing to build.
One oil lamp and the bodies of the people inside could then hold a workable temperature through a winter night. The floor of such a house sits on ground that stays frozen year round, called permafrost, so builders had to keep the heat from thawing what they stood on and turning it to mud. None of this was invented quickly. It is the accumulated result of many generations testing a design against a climate that punishes every mistake.
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, sod holds heat well because ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
3As used in the passage, sheltered most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context
4Why was the roof of a sod house kept low?TOEFL · Factual Information
5The entrance was set below the living floor because ___.SAT · Inference
6The passage says a cold trap costs ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
7As used in the passage, workable most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context
8According to the passage, permafrost is ground that ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
9It can be inferred that a badly designed house on permafrost might ___.SAT · Inference
10The last sentence suggests that the design came from ___.SAT · Inference
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 3 “Building Something That Lasts”
Miyax stops solving one day at a time and starts building things that keep working after she walks away — a house, a snare, a store of food. Write about something you made or set up that kept helping you later, or about something you wish you had prepared for. What is the difference between fixing a problem and preventing one? 5–8 sentences. End with one piece of advice about planning ahead.
You can start with: “The difference between fixing a problem and preventing one 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 3 Complete!
You finished Part I · The Sod House and the Pups 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.
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.
