Call of the Wild

 The Call of the Wild by Jack London

A pampered dog is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara valley and sold to become an Alaskan sled dog. He becomes increasingly "wild" and becomes the leader of the pack, but remains loyal to good humans. He finds himself pulling the sled of some idiot humans who disregard advice from others and try to travel in luxury. Buck escapes from them just before they end up killing themselves. He befriends the man that helped him escape. After this man is killed by natives, Buck seeks revenge. After that, he has no more humans to be loyal to and answers the "call of the wild".  I liked this book a lot better than I did when I read it in school. The "dog narration" works well here. (I happened to read it and Socks, back to back to keep an animal narration scheme going.)

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

This feels similar to some other books, such as Anne of Green Gables. The protagonist is an optimistic girl who likes to write. She comes from a poor background, but goes to live with relatives to have more opportunities. I get the details mixed up with other stories.

Moshkeleh the Thief: A Rediscovered Novel

Moshkeleh the Thief: A Rediscovered Novel by Sholom Aleichem

This is a short, self-deprecating novel that give insights into the lives of Eastern European Jews from a century ago. Moshkeleh is a known as the thief and is somewhat outcast from Jewish society. However, people still come ot him when they have problems. The beautiful daughter of a bartender ran away and took up with a Christian in a monastery. The relatives ask Moshkeleh to go bring her back. Little do they know that he has had a crush on her. He goes to the monastery, saying he is an outcast and wants to join them. He meets the girl (who is somewhat homesick) and takes her away. They get married and move elsewhere. She writes back to family to tell them the news. In the story, the author makes plenty of interjections about the story and Jewish life in general during the story.