Monninger, Joseph. Whippoorwill.

Monninger, Joseph.  Whippoorwill.  Houghton Mifflin  2015  275p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-544-53123-9  hs   Animal story  VG-BN     

Claire and her neighbors might be called “white trash.”  She watches and hears Wally, the next door neighbor’s dog, who is mostly ignored but sometimes abused.  She is afraid of Wally but also feels sorry for him.  One night she finally approaches him and is rewarded with love.  Danny sees Claire and decides to defy his abusive father and try to civilize Wally.  Claire and Danny get along very well in caring for Wally.

Danny fights with his father over Wally and injures his father.  Danny and Claire spend a wonderful day together until Danny is arrested.  While Danny is in jail, Claire rescues Wally with the help of her father and his motorcycle buddies.  To prevent further abuse, Claire surrenders Wally to a rescue center.

This is a sweet story about the love of a dog, how even the worst dog can respond to love and can bring together a boy and a girl.  The ending is a bit of a tearjerker as Claire says goodbye to Wally.  The novel is ensitively written, leaving the reader to learn much about the characters through their actions.  The theme is that no one, neither human nor canine, is a throwaway -- a piece of junk.

Summary: Claire feels sorry for Wally, the next door neighbor’s abused dog.  She begins to train him with the help of the Danny, boy next door.  Danny wants to escape his abusive father, and Claire rescues Wally.  No one, whether a dog or a person, is a throwaway.      

Dogs-Fiction                                                --Joan Theal

Jahn-Clough, Lisa. Nothing But Blue.

Jahn-Clough, Lisa.  Nothing But Blue.     Houghton Mifflin  2013  214p  ISBN 978-0-618-95961-7    hs/adult  Hardback  E-BN      Realistic fiction

Author Lisa Jahn-Clough is an excellent storyteller.  She cleverly weaves two stories together, one of a journey that Blue is making “Now,” and another, of a life that Blue had “Before.”  In the “Now,” young adult readers will love the confusion and uncertainty that Blue experiences as she makes her way “home,” and they will love the poetry of her story and the relationships that she forms, especially with Shadow, the magic dog.  In the “Before” they will slowly come to realize that Blue’s life was artificial, lacking that certain je ne sais quoi  that makes life worth the journey.  She was with Jake in the “Before,” but Jake’s love was fake, and Blue learned to distrust.  She especially distrusted her parents who were going to drag her from the only happy place she’d experienced in life, her lovely Victorian home near the beach.  During her “Now” journey, she has memories of a tragedy that befell her, but she can’t quite pull herself together to really remember what happened.  Shadow is her new friend, a dog who converses with Blue and who saves her whenever she needs shelter, food or protection.  She also develops other relationships during her journey, especially with Snake, a former drifter who introduces her to hobo life, train jumping and real feelings about another human being.   When the actual memory of the tragedy comes to Blue, will the relationships and trust that she has experienced during her journey be enough to sustain her?   The reader will discover the answer at the very end.  Readers of all ages will find that the plot, although stellar, doesn’t count in this novel.  What counts is the connection that Jahn-Clough creates between Blue and Shadow.  What counts is the journey from depths of despair to hope.  With a small segment devoted to the sexual relationship between Blue and Jake, this book is best for high-school and older readers.  The high-school library and public libraries need to stock multiple copies! 

Summary: Blue lives in “Now” and “Before” and must bring the two time periods together to remember the tragedy that befell her family.  A dog named Shadow joins her and helps her at unusual times.    

Dog stories-Fiction, Friendship-Fiction                     --Martha Squaresky

Barrow, Randi. Finding Zasha.

Barrow, Randi.  Finding Zasha.      Scholastic Press  2013  343p  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-545-45218-2      ms/hs       Historical      VG-BN

Twelve-year-old Ivan has escaped from the Siege of Leningrad, but when the town he has taken refuge in is occupied by Hitler’s troops, he sees his chance to help the partisans he has met -- and to rescue two German shepherd puppies, Zasha and Thor, from the cruel Commander Recht.  Barrow’s debut novel, Saving Sasha (2011), was a compelling historical fiction novel and dog story that won many honors.  Finding Zasha is the prequel to that book, and it delivers another exciting story set in World War II Soviet Russia.

Ivan lives in Leningrad with his mother.  He loves music and has formed an ensemble in which he sings and plays the concertina.  When the Germans lay siege to the city, Ivan’s mother sends the 12-year-old on a hazardous trek to stay with a relative in the countryside.  Through a series of harrowing experiences and misadventures, Ivan ends up in another village occupied by Germans.  Major Recht, the commanding Nazi officer, hears Ivan play music, and brings him to camp to provide entertainment for himself and his soldiers.  Ivan grabs the opportunity to assist the Partisans, who are working secretly to undermine the Germans.  When the opportunity arises, Ivan escapes the Nazi camp and rescues Recht’s likeable puppies from  a brutal training program intended to transform them into killer attack animals that will hunt down Russians.

Major Recht, already sadistic and vengeful, will stop at nothing to retrieve his prized dogs. Unaware that Sasha has gone missing, the German officer vindictively pursues Ivan for many years, even after the war has ended.  The resulting story is a gripping animal tale, historical novel, and adventure, all rolled into one.  Readers who have not done so will want to read the companion volume, Saving Sasha, although Finding Sasha stands well on its own. 

Dogs-Fiction, World War II-Fiction, Soviet Union-History-Fiction. 

                                                            -–Hilary Welliver

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

Morpurgo, Michael. Shadow.

Morpurgo, Michael.  Shadow.       Feiwel&Friends/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group   178p  $16.99 978-0-312-60659-6          2012      ms/jr        VG-BN                  Realistic fiction                                   

Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse (which was recently released as a movie), offers a fictional story based on real events.  Morpurgo was inspired by a news clipping about an Australian sniffer dog who was separated from his handler when serving in Afghanistan.  Although he went missing for more than a year and was presumed dead, the dog survived and was returned to her unit, having been fed and cared for by local people.

Matt is visiting his grandfather when he learns the plight of his classmate Aman, who, along with his mother, has been incarcerated in Yarl’s Wood, a detention camp, to await deportation.  Matt convinces his grandfather, a retired journalist, to visit the family and to take steps to secure their release.

The story is told from several perspectives. Aman tells the story of life under the Taliban and his family’s harrowing flight from Afghanistan.  Six years after seeking asylum in the UK, Aman and his mother are abruptly threatened with deportation to the country they fled, where retribution for their flight is a certainty.  Matt is grounded in the present, and his story is one of friendship and describes Aman’s many admirable qualities; Aman is a star athlete, good student, and loyal friend.  Matt’s grandfather provides a mature point of view, and has the life experience to place all the stories in perspective and prepare a plan of action.

It is not until Matt brings his dog to the prison-like detention center that the story of Shadow, a remarkable springer spaniel, comes to light.  Shadow’s story threads itself through all the story lines, and ultimately brings together the elements necessary for Aman’s rescue in the UK, as well as Afghanistan.

The theme of civil liberty is obvious.  The parallels between the Afghani regime and the British government are deliberate.  How can the UK call itself a democracy when it infringes on civil rights to this extent?  The call to action is more subtle.  Aman and his mother are, at the last minute, permitted to stay on in the UK, but what about the other families who are still living in the detention camp?  Readers may be prompted to action in considering their plight. This offers a springboard to discussions of the value of friendship and loyalty, conflict, and how to take effective steps to become an activist at any age.

Friendship-Fiction, Dogs-Fiction, Taliban-Fiction, War-Fiction, Afghanistan-Fiction, United Kingdom-Fiction                                                                                                                                                                        --Hilary Welliver