I, Jack

by Jack the Dog

A humorous tale of Jack the dog and his misadventures.  The book is told through Jack's eyes, and the reader will laugh along with his descriptions of his human owners and his plight to train them to listen to him!

Because of Winn Dixie

 Because of Winn Dixie

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2000.

Plot Description:

            India Opal Buloni has just moved to Naples, Florida.  She hasn’t made any real friends yet, but she is used to moving because her daddy is a preacher.  Sometimes it’s hard to be the preacher’s daughter, because everyone thinks you’re just going to tattle on them.  But Winn Dixie, the stray dog she found at the grocery store of the same name, is about to change all that.  Winn Dixie quickly becomes her best friend, and becomes her easy ticket to making new friends with his big grin and playful ways.  India is about to find out what real friendship is all about.

Review:

            Because of Winn Dixie is a great book about a girl who is growing up and learning about herself and about the influence one person can make on another’s life. As she makes friends with a few loners around town, the old librarian, the guy who works at the animal shop, and the town ‘witch’, she learns that loneliness is the worst thing that can happen to a person.  She learns that it’s not what people think that matters, that there is good in everyone.  It’s a great book for tweens with fun characters and a good story about a girl and her dog. 

Genre: Realistic Ficiton

Reading level: 4-5^th Grade

Similar Books: The Higher Power of Lucky

Reader’s Advisory:

Personal thoughts- really cute book about misfits banding together

Subjects/themes- Dogs, Friendship, Family

Awards- Newbery Honor Book

Character names/descriptions-

            India- a young girl who wants to know her mother who ran away when she was young

            Miss Franny Block- the town librarian

            Gloria Dump- the town witch, tells India about making amends

Otis- works at the pet store

Annotation: Sometimes it takes a dog to make things right.

Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam

Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam

Author: Cynthia Kadohata

Publisher: New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2007.

Plot Description:

            Cracker lives a great life with his master Willie, and Willie’s parents.  But when the family has to move to a smaller home, they find that they can no longer keep Cracker with them.  Instead of sending her to the pound, they decide to send her to help the army in Vietnam as a bomb sniffing dog.  But before she can go she has to learn to obey a new master, an 18 year old recruit named Rick.  As Rick and Cracker learn to work together and trust each other they are sent on their biggest test, to survive Vietnam and the horrific war that is going on there.  What results is a heartwarming and breaking story about the love of a dog and her master, and the power that this love brings.

Review:

            Cracker! is an amazing story about something that few realize happen.  Dogs have been a major part of war for major battles for centuries, but they are the unsung heroes even after they have saved the lives of thousands.  The book talks about the sacrifices these dogs willingly made for the masters they loved, and the heartbreak the soldiers suffered for these heroic pets.  Another interesting part of the story was that the book really told how these dogs saved people, and then of the terrible end the army left most of them to.  The book believable switches back and forth from the perspective of Cracker and Rick.  It is a must read for any tween interested in animals or in war stories. 

Genre: Historical Fiction

           

Reading level: 8^th-9^th Grade

Similar Books: Skulduggery Pleasant, Alabama Moon

Reader’s Advisory:

Personal thoughts- really powerful book on the bond between humans and dogs

Subjects/themes- War, Dogs, Vietnam War, Growing up

Character names/descriptions-

            Willie- Cracker’s owner who had to give him up

            Rick- ends up becoming Cracker’s handler and owes his life to the dog

            Cracker- a heroic dog

Annotation: Sometimes the person you can count on the most, isn’t a person at all.