But as portrayed in this book and stories like even Disney's Beauty and the Beast, they make for an interesting protagonist. They are given a sinister aspect that is not borne out with actual evidence. The second fault, more prevalent in those times, and unfortunately perhaps still with some people based on these types of stories, is that wolf packs would hunt after a human party as portrayed in the story. (And that should also include prejudice against white males that the current media is pushing.) That is, he was a mixture of French and Indian, and such a fusing of blood had developed a strain of cunning and cruelty that submerged any good qualities of either race." Glad we all now know that it is wrong to prescribe negative qualities to a race of people, or a mixed race person. The first is that the villain in the story is described with "He was the type called "breed". For many these would be like asking, 'Other than the bullet in the head Mr. I really liked the story but there are two big faults that show the prejudice of the times. It follows a Canadian Mountie and a half husky half wolf dog 'Silver Chief'. (Basically, like in L M Montgomery, there's a dismissal of the French as shifty and lazy, compounded by a similar view of the Native Canadian, in this case culminating in a "half breed" who magnifies the "worst traits of both races.")Īssuming you can discuss that with a young reader, and I don't see why you couldn't, this is a fine adventure novel with an excellent canine companion any dog-lover would want to know. (Unlike an older relative, a book has no chance to learn and grow.) I would not throw this in the refuse bin of history, but neither would I give it unexplained to an innocent young person without some followup discussion. Unfortunately, the book suffers from a casual racism for which it can be forgiven because of its age. (I remember the perilous journey being longer but not particularly more perilous.) I didn't remember the end at all. It's still very good, although shorter than I remember. I loved it and read it more than once, I'm sure. So Jack O'Brien's friends got his style of writing just right - unfortunately.Īs a child, I found this in my grandmother's house and spirited it away, along with a stack of Terhune and a small pile of horse novels. "The magnificent beast died gallantly" and so on. Wrong facts aside, the text is way over the top. Wolves DO like to play, for example, while this book states that wolves do not play. The books also shows the most anyone knew about wolves at the time - which was practically nothing. I wonder what a Breed would think of this book? I guess if you're going to slag off a specific group of people, do it for the smallest group possible. Here it's not for the Jews or the blacks or the Americans - it's for "Breeds" - half French and half Indian. Since its the 1930s, of course you've got to expect a little racism. There are many descriptions of different kinds of pain one can go through when living in the Canadian North - especially if you have a festering bullet wound in your leg.Īnd say hello to racism. The climactic battle between the Mounty and Silver Chief with the Evil Doer Who Needs Bringing to Justice is done with an excruciating marathon in deep winter with an exhausted dog team. I lost count of how many people, dogs, wolves or whatever got killed. For starters, there's tons and tons of violence. Kids' books back in the 1930s were very different from kids' books today. This was a very well-loved copy, too, with many torn pages held together by sepia-toned Scotch tape and adorned with stains of rather dubious character. 1933!!! I think Hitler just came to power then. My county library system managed to have a copy of Silver Chief (the first in the series) from 1933. This made me curious about the previous books in the series, especially since Royal Red was written by "friends" after O'Brien's death from notes he left. Some years ago, I managed to get hold of a free copy of Royal Red: Colt of the Canadian Mounted, the last book in the Silver Chief series.
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