Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrated by Amy June Bates. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011.
This Bluestem nominee is the lovely story of four dogs, a
cat, a boy and his sister, and how they saved their family. After their father
leaves them without saying why or whether he is ever coming back, their mom
takes them to a shelter with the intention of adopting a dog to cheer them up. After
meeting Neo, Bitty, Grace, Bryn, and Lula the cat their mom decides to take
everyone one home. Their little house is now full of dogs, with dogs and cat selecting
a family member as their main companion. Slowly they start to learn about each dog’s
personality as we can hear them talking, however, for this to happen you have
to believe that magic surrounds you and to do that you have to know who you are
and what you are willing to fight for in order to save your family. I loved the
sketch like pencil illustrations, their softness and details support the story
as it leads the reader to believe in the magic surrounding us.
