# The Call of the Wild

**Author:** Jack London
**Lexile:** 1120L
**Grade range:** Grades 6–10
**Age range:** 11–16
**First published:** 1903
**Page count:** 172
**Genre:** Adventure
**ISBN-13:** `9780486264721`
**ISBN-10:** `0486264726`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-call-of-the-wild
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Buck, a domesticated dog from California, is stolen and sold into harsh sled-dog labor during the Klondike Gold Rush. As he is driven across the Yukon, he sheds his civilized habits and reawakens the ancestral instincts of his wild ancestors. London's short novel is a frequent grades 6-8 assignment and appears on the Common Core Appendix B exemplar list.

## Themes

- survival
- nature vs. civilization
- instinct
- adaptation
- the wild

## Content notes

- animal cruelty
- violence

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 11+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 6-8 story exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 6-8 story exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 6-8 story exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)

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