Notes

Despite his efforts to improve his vocabulary and writing style, editors and publishers rejected everything Jack wrote. If he could not publish his work and earn money, he knew he would have to return to manual labor to make his living.

One of the stories he started was about a dog named Buck that was stolen, then forced to become a sled dog in the frozen north. Jack I became so absorbed in his writing that the work grew to book size. He tried to write in such a way that his readers could see, feel, and hear the story. He wrote about the singing of the sled runners on the icy trails, the white snow, the black forests, and the flaming aurora borealis. He titled his book The Call of the Wild.

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

When he returned home from his advanture, his mother persuaded him to enter a writing contest for young people. The contest offered a $25 first prize. Jack vividly described how the schooner had 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.