The Works of Jim Kjelgaard

by Jim Kjelgaard

James Arthur Kjelgaard (December 6, 1910–July 12, 1959) was a young adult literature writer. The Works of Jim Kjelgaard (with active table of contents), contains 5 books, includes:
•The Black Fawn
•The Lost Wagon
•Rescue Dog of the High Pass
•Swamp Cat
•We were There at the Oklahoma Land Run

934 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2012

About the author

an American author of young adult literature.

Born in New York City, New York, Jim Kjelgaard is the author of more than forty novels, the most famous of which is 1945's "Big Red." It sold 225,000 copies by 1956 and was made into a 1962 Walt Disney film with the same title, Big Red. His books were primarily about dogs and wild animals, often with animal protagonists and told from the animal's point of view.

Jim Kjelgaard committed suicide in 1959, after suffering for several years from chronic pain and depression.
- Wikipedia -

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not his best.

This is a collection of stories that aren't JK's best, but still pretty good. Some good writing, surprise endings and a bit of humor. The last story, about some Oklahoma settlers, must have been one of his early works because it's not very good, mainly because of cheesy dialog and shallow characters. The others are good, though.

[Norm S · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

Five stories by Jim Kjelgaard one of the best authors ever. I read most of his books years ago when I was a kid. Four of these I'd never read enjoyed each one.

[Red · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume is made up of 5 novelas:

Black Fawn: The story of a 10 year old orphan who is sent out to a farm to help an elderly couple with the work. The story takes place over 3 years and we see them become a real family. I loved this story, with it's sense of another time and another place.

The Lost Wagon: a very dated telling of a family traveling alone on the Oregon Trail. The very few images of American Indians and blacks are incredibly offensive. They ruined an otherwise intersting story.

rescue Dog of the High Pass tells a possible origin story for th Saint Bernard Dog. This story had the least depth and character development of the group. I like YA dog stories, and this just wasn't good.

Swamp Cat: An interesting, if dated read of a cat who joins up with a ypoung man who lives amongst the swamps of the Smokey Mountains(?) It was intersting enough to keep me reading.

We werr There at the Oklahoma Land Run: Started very unevenly, but it slowly got better. By the end twist-time, I expected something much worse than what actually happened.

All in all, I'm glad I didn't spend any money on this collection of public domain stories, and it's kind of curbed my need to reread any other JK stories.