Customer Reviews

Bel Ria: Dog of War (New York Review Children's Collection)

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Whether you read this book and come away moved by the heartfelt simplicity of its narrative, or whether you put it down after the final page and realize you've just experienced a complex metaphor of war and innocence, BEL RIA will never leave you. Like BLACK BEAUTY, this book is not just a children's book, although children will understand it completely - maybe better than adults. Like many earlier children's classics, it's a book of the real world, genuine and not at all diluted for young audiences. BEL RIA is a classic story of a dog's journey though a baffling human world as well as a simple and profound comment on the violence of war and what it means to the most innocent; the animals. Personally, at the instant I finished the book I understood that, when it comes to war, we are all Bel Ria. Professionally, as a writer, I deeply admire the author of this book and wish she had written many more books than she did. This is a book that will come into it's own, time after time, and I can think of no better answer to a child's question, "What is war all about?"

This is not a story for young children and it is not a light read !!! It has been over 15 years since I have first read this story, I picked it up because it was by the same author as the Incredible Journey (which I enjoyed), but I thought that this was a much better book than the Journey. It is one that I pick up and read every couple of years and there are certain points in the story which always bring a tear every time I read them.

It is a story of the effect & horror of war on the innocents (namely the animals). It is also a story of love and the companionship provided by animals even at the darkest of times.