The Boy Who Spoke Dog [Hardcover]

Clay Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Jack, a storm-snatched cabin boy, washes up on a mysterious island. He finds sheep, sheep dogs, and wild dogs called fangos, but strangely, no people. Jack struggles to survive, to understand the dogs, and to befriend a little Border collie named Moxie. She and the other sheep dogs are mystified by the skinny boy, who does not fit their myths about people. During a final battle between the fangos and the sheep dogs, Jack finds he can communicate with the dogs, a discovery that deepens his friendship with Moxie and validates his life on the island. But the crew from Jack's ship returns to rescue him-now that Jack does not want to be rescued.

This middle-grade novel, told from Moxie's and Jack's alternating points of view, reads like a classic adventure story-vivid, swiftly paced, and woven with the timeless themes of a boy's self-reliance and the intense loyalty of dogs.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-After being cast overboard during a storm, a young cabin boy is washed ashore on an island inhabited by two packs of dogs. One group protects the sheep that were left behind by now-departed settlers, while the other, the wild fangos, hunts the herd. Soon after his arrival, Jack has a suspenseful life-and-death encounter with the fangos and is rescued by the sheep dogs. They lead him to the ruins of a farm, where he is able to find the necessities of survival. Lonely, he tries to reach out to the canines, but they keep their distance. Soon Moxie, a little Border collie, befriends the boy, and before long, the two form a bond. The events are related from alternating viewpoints. During Jack's scenes, the plot moves more quickly, while Moxie's chapters are more thoughtful, as she listens to her leader, a blind old English sheepdog who guides her to an understanding of the pack's history and the connection between humans and dogs. In many ways, this story is really Moxie's, as the themes of companionship and communication develop through her thought processes and her budding relationship with Jack. More than just an exciting adventure tale, this novel is an exploration of the hidden link between people and animals. Get out your Kleenex; the ending is no fairy-tale wrap-up.
James K. Irwin, Poplar Creek Main Library, Steamwood, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. When his ship wrecks, Jack, a nineteenth-century cabin boy, finds himself stranded on a remote island near New Zealand. Once inhabited by farmers, the island now has only sheep and sheep dogs, left behind after the people abandoned their homes. When Jack arrives, the dogs have split into two groups: one that loyally cares for the sheep and another that attacks them. The story, told in alternating viewpoints shifts between Jack's perspective and that of Moxie, a young dog. As Jack negotiates the two canine groups and learns to survive in his new world, he achieves a bond so deep that he can communicate with the dogs. Morgan delivers an unusual, engrossing novel, using vivid language to project the reader into the sounds and smells of the animal world as he examines the ancient bonds between humans and dogs. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1 edition (November 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525471596
• ISBN-13: 978-0525471592
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dog may be within., March 11, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Boy Who Spoke Dog (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book and it is the best book in the world.It shows how we all have a dog within us.When we really believe, you may find something unbelievable.It may have to do with your best friend being a dog.The end is the most saddest ending i've ever read.I even cried.You will love this book and I garentee you'll find your dog within you.I'll bet you'll even cry at the end.I'm hoping there will be a second book to this one.Read this book.If you hate dogs i just know that after you read this book you will love them with all your heart.I loved dogs before I read this book and now I can't love them any more than I do now.READ THE GREATEST BOOK IN THE WORLD!!!THIS ONE!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A world Full of Dog wisdom, February 21, 2004

By 

Gwynne C. Spencer (Mancos, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boy Who Spoke Dog (Hardcover)

For kids whose fondest daydream is a world where there are no bossy adults to tell them what to do, this book will delight, enchant, and lure them into a world where the dogs take care of things--sheep, each other, and Jack (the boy)--using "dog language". The boy, definitely a "lesser species" learns to trust and obey the wisdom of the dog pack, and is spared a horrible death at the slavering jaws of the "fangos", wild cousins of the civilized herding dogs. Kind of like "Lassie" meets "Castaway".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Boy Who Spoke Dog; a fairly good read., November 29, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Boy Who Spoke Dog (Mass Market Paperback)

The Boy Who Spoke Dog is a book about a boy who was on a ship that was headed to disaster in a storm. The boy, Jack, escaped on a lifeoat and came to an island where two packs of dogs lived. Feral ones, called fangos, which attacked sheep on raids and ate them, and sheep dogs, which protected the sheep, and if the fangos had to run off before they could eat the sheep that they had killed, the sheep dogs would eat them. The sheep were all the dogs' food supply, so they relied on each other despite being enemies. Jack first meets the fangos, where he escapes up a tree. Soon, he manages to escape, following a black and white border collie called Moxie by the rest of the sheep dogs. Moxie leads Jack to a broken-down hut surrounded by sheep and sheep dogs guarding them. Soon, a fango raid commences and Jack helps out. From then on, Jack tries hard to survive, eating some of the sheep that the fangos took down. Both sheep dogs, fangos, and now Jack live off the sheep. He got the meat by way of a knife. Sage, the oldest dog and the only one, besides Fango, the leader of the fangos, to remember humans, brings Jack to a sack filled with some items needed for Jack's survival. Eventually, Jack gets cornered by Fango and some others while trying to run for the shore, and Moxie saves him after Fango tries to stutter some words, but fails due to his corruption. Finally, the ship that Jack bailed out on comes back to forcefully pick him off the island. The arrival of the ship solved his problem of surviving, but he was reluctant to leave the dogs he somehow has suddenly formed a telepathic bond with. That is a plot point I didn't really understand. He communicates with Sage's spirit after he gets killed by fangos, then communicates with Moxie. I think you are supposed to believe the trauma or the extended living with the dogs caused it, but it is not fully explained. This is mainly why I rated it 4/5, instead of 5/5, since the author uses vivid language and creativity to express the story of the boy who learned to speak dog (somehow).