The Kindred of the Wild

by Charles G.D. Roberts

Controversial from the first but immensely popular worldwide, Charles G. D. Roberts’ animal stories fixed the landscape and wildlife of Canada in a million imaginations. As popular in their day as Kipling’s Jungle Book, Roberts’ books were far more concerned with precise natural history and with the real experience of wild creatures. A century later, with our sense of the shrinking wilderness, these stores have a fresh, unsentimental and elegaic impact.

Genres: Nature

378 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts, was a Canadian poet and prose writer who is known as the Father of Canadian Poetry. He was almost the first Canadian author to obtain worldwide reputation and influence; he was also a tireless promoter and encourager of Canadian literature. He published numerous works on Canadian exploration and natural history, verse, travel books, and fiction. At his death he was regarded as Canada's leading man of letters.

Besides his own body of work, Roberts served as an inspiration and a source of assistance for other Canadian poets of his time.

Roberts, his cousin Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott are known as the Confederation Poets.

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is very similar to The Secret Trails or any of Roberts's other nature stories. You see, his nature stories are very predictable. This makes them rather boring. I do not enjoy his writing style. And I think I've mentioned all these things in my review of The Secret Trails! It's hard to come up with anything new to say when the two books are SO SIMILAR. I could have appreciated this book if my teacher wouldn't have read it to my class right after finishing another of Roberts's books. Short stories always get old fast, but especially so when they're all on the same subject, all by the same writer.

I apologise for this review highly objective review: I was simply very bored with the book. If you enjoy nature stories (and haven't been hearing them every day for the past 2 months), you'll probably love it!

[Nightshade · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely brutal book. I remember when I first came across it a few years ago, I struggled to read past "The Moonlight Trails". Some of the stories are much more intensely brutal and dark than the first and some are more triumphant and hopeful.

I felt I owed it to my animal kin to read this book. Afterall I worship nature, but I cannot claim to, if I turn away from the brutality and cruelty often found in their stories.

[Joanne Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child 50 years ago; my parents had read it as children. I remember loving it, and the stories have always stayed with me. What I enjoyed most was seeing things from the animals' points of view. I did not know until recently that the writer was Canadian. Although I studied the "Confederation Poets" in high school, I don't remember covering the poetry of Charles G.D. Roberts. I hope to find a copy of this book someday, to share with great nieces and nephews, and to re-read it myself.