Book Review: 'One Dog and His Boy'

Young adult fiction often gets little respect from adults in the same way that young adults often get little respect from adults.  Then something really interesting happens in a

story: the characters suddenly find agency and become authentic individuals.  This is due to good writing and character development, of course, but it also is because that’s what happens in real life.   

And does it matter how old a reader should be to learn something from enjoying a good story?

When a youth transitions to adulthood important changes take place.  The moment that yields such authenticity is when the innocence of childhood is betrayed, however benignly and unwittingly or deliberately, by adults dealing with their own issues.  The youth must open a new chapter in the rule book.

In “One Dog and His Boy,” by Eva Ibbotson, Hal is shy, without a good friend or activities that make him happy, and desperately wanting the companionship of a dog.  His parents love him, but for their own selfish reasons, don’t want a dog in their lives.  They fail to fully see who

Hal is becoming and trick him in an unforgivable way, providing a rented dog for a weekend, but not telling him he could not keep it.

Hal bonds immediately with the dog but when he learns his parents have returned it without first telling him, he suffers severe disappointment and anger and takes matters into his own fairly naïve hands. 

Subsequent adventures with new friends and encounters with ruthless greed, an elderly kind shepherd, helpful circus performers, some generous monks in a monastery and a pack of dogs rescued from captivity are, at times, both hilarious and poignant.  

Hal and his new friend attempt to walk cross country to get to his beloved but estranged grandparents living by the sea and hide out.  His parents mistakenly believe he was kidnapped and hire private detectives.  The resourceful thinking of both youngsters, plus the intuitive intelligence of the dogs and some timely luck in evading capture, celebrate the maturation of youth.  

No spoilers provided here.  This is a full out adventure.  The overall theme of family dynamics, parents eventually seeking atonement for having traumatized their child, and the child understanding for the first time in his or her life the complexities of navigating the unpredictable world in a responsible way is a worthy and entertaining message for our challenging times.