Pyron, Bobbie. The Dogs of Winter.

Pyron, Bobbie.  The Dogs of Winter.  Scholastic Press  312p  $16.99     978-0-545-39930-2 2012  ms/hs   VG-BN     Historical Fiction

This is a novel that portrays the struggle of many children in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The economic situation was in tatters, and the safety net for the homeless and poor were gone.  Many parents had to abandon their children.  The people’s hardships and the spread of alcoholism, physical neglect, and gangs are all pictured in this story of a young boy named Ivan Mishukov who struggles to stay alive.  His struggle is even harder than that of other children because his mother taught him not to lie and steal.

Mishka is saved from the gangs of older boys by a pack of dogs.  They adopt him and care for him on a daily basis, like a real family.  Boy and dogs depend upon the other’s skills and aptitudes to survive the brutal Russian winter.  It is this interdependence that makes the story such a heartwarming read, especially since it is based on a true story.  Readers learn that a family can have many different types of members, and embody different types of love.

Street children-Fiction, Human-animal relationships-Fiction, Dogs- Fiction, Russia–Fiction                                    --Linda McNeil