Jean Craighead George, 1919 – 2012

My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves, books by Jean Craighead George, were among my favorites in childhood. I did not, however, know at the time about her lifelong closeness to the natural world. I’ve never read her memoir about her family’s experiences with the many wild pets they kept. (The animals were free to leave at any time, and eventually most of them did.) I’m surprised that my father never introduced me to the book, given the wild pets he'd had in his youth.

I was going to write further about her with quotes from her obit, but it’s a fascinating article and I wouldn’t know where to start. So I’m just going to post the whole thing here.


From The Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2012:

Newbery award-winning children’s author
BY VALERIE J. NELSON

( An owl who regularly took showers with family members was the subject of his own book. )