Customer Reviews

Listen!

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nope. Don't like dogs. Okay, that's an exaggeration. I like `em fine. I just wouldn't label myself a "dog person". I'm not the kind of gal that goes all googley-eyed over the itty bitty puppy sitting across from me on the subway or who bursts into tears at the mere mention of Old Yeller's name. As for dog books, I can take `em or leave `em. "Shiloh"? Fine, I guess. Not really my bag. "101 Dalmations"? Never read it. "Sounder"? Ditto. This is all to tell you that picking up "Listen!", by Stephanie S. Tolan did not create any special pitter patters within my little heart. Dog on cover, thought I. How nice. I felt a bit wary since Tolan was the woman who wrote, "Surviving the Applewhites", which I felt somewhat `meh' about. So consider me mind-blowingly knocked back out of my seat surprised when about roughly three pages into this book I found myself thinking, "Hey! This is good! Quite exceptional!". With so early a sense of acceptance, the fact that the book really and truly made me feel like a dog person is nothing short of miraculous. If you know a kid who loves dogs, a kid who loves cats, a kid who loves hot pink salamanders, or a kid who doesn't like any kind of animal whatsoever, this is the book to hand them.

Charlene, a.k.a. Charley hasn't had it easy lately. A year or two ago her mother died when she left to photograph the Amazon jungle. Then, a couple months ago, Charley was involved in a horrible car accident that rendered one of her legs in need of major reconstruction and physical therapy. Charley would prefer to stay indoors all the time if she could, but her father goads her into taking a walk one day just to prove that she can. En route, she sees something that bowls her over. A dog. A wild dog that's been living in the woods, but a dog just the same. Turns out he's a stray that has obviously suffered some abuse in the past and doesn't trust any humans. Still, the dog is sweet, Charley can see that, and suddenly she has a purpose in life. She's going to tame him. She's going to tame Coyote (his new name). And while the process of taming is never easy and often deeply frustrating, Charley proves to be up to the challenge of getting someone to love her and trust her with their safety.

Recently a whole slew of children's literature magazines have been lamenting the fact that the publishing world has been turning its attention almost entirely towards "middle grade fiction". You know. Harry Potter-type fantasies and books averaging out at 600 pages plus. With that in the foreground of my mind I've been making a special effort to seek out any and all books that might appeal to those kids that don't get excited by the prospect of reading a phone book-sized tome. In such a light as this, "Listen!", is the answer to my prayers. First of all, there's the fact that kids will actually like it. Really really like it. Credit where credit's due, Tolan is infinitely readable. In "Listen!", we've also some pretty fabulous writing on hand as well. This is a book all about relationships. The one between Charley and Coyote, Charley and her mother's memory, Charley and her father, Charley and her friend Amy... and so on. Every person in the book, every character it seems, has a heart and a head and an independent mind. This is a book free of cliches and overdone ideas. It's fresh, and that's something the kids reading it are going to appreciate.

Tolan isn't afraid to leave a couple loose ends blowing about once the story is over. There's the fact that while Charley learns and grows from her experiences, her father never does. Charley works through her grief and pain through sheer will. Her father, on the other hand, is still hiding behind his 80 hour workweeks by the end of the tale. He may have a newfound respect for his daughter and maybe he's more inclined to stay and home and build a doghouse or something with her, but he hasn't gone through what she has and it shows. While Charley will be able to move on with her life, her father may never be able to do so. It's sad, but it feels true. Feels real.

Of course, I liked Tolan's wordplay as well. She's as comfortable having Charley call her trainer Tony a "physical terrorist" as she is saying that in the kitchen her father, "can make the opening of a box of cereal sound like small arms fire". Then spotted throughout the text, Tolan displays her skill at conjuring up the visual. "The plates of the pine tree's bark, layer after thin layer, form a jagged ring of concentric circles". Luscious.

Admittedly, there is the whole Charley's-mental-connection-to-Coyote thing to grapple with. Normally this kind of spiritual mumbo jumbo would set my teeth on edge. Credit Tolan then for doing the impossible. She takes a very realistic story and manages to weave in a small element that allows her heroine to get brief glimpses of the world through Coyote's eyes without dragging the book down into some kind of supernatural hodgepodge. Since she's dealing with a kind of Zen attitude towards nature and humanity's relation towards it, she's treading on thin ice to begin with. There's a memory Charley has of her mother telling a hive of wasps that they won't be harmed and shouldn't sting her that could have been cutesy or unbelievable. The fact that it flows as beautifully as it does with the rest of the text speaks to how well the book holds together.

Now I'm going to have to be honest with you here. There may be another reason why I liked this book, and it probably will have very little connection to whether or not kids will like it too. For them, it's all going to be about the relationship between Coyote and Charley. For me, it was the book's attitude towards photography. Susan Sontag herself could hardly have written better child-friendly passages about the power of the captured image. Charley's mother was a nature photographer and in communing better with the forest and its denizens, Charley begins to unravel why her mother was as good an artist as she was. I love photography deeply and everything Charley discovers felt true to me. And though I can't vouch for them, it may well feel true to its child readers as well.

So let's sum up, shall we? What we have here is a dog book, yes. But a dog book that is also a book about healing yourself and connecting to something bigger than your own puny existence. Throw in some great writing, a bit of photography, and some humor on the side (always important) and you've got yourself one of the strongest titles of the year. Fresh, fine, and funny, "Listen!", is one of those books kids will find themselves reading and rereading for years to come. It has "classic" status stamped all over it. Best of all, you don't even have to like dogs. A definite plus.

This book, about Charley and a wild dog she names Coyote, is not filled with adventure and action. But don't let this scare you off. This slow-paced book touched my soul and left me smiling with satisfaction. As the reader, you get to witness not only the gigantic change in Coyote, but the enormous changes that take place in Charley, who is still hurting from her mother's death two years ago and a recent car accident that left her leg badly injured. Throughout Charley's journey in "taming" this wild dog she calls Coyote, Charley learns to open her heart again to beauty and wonder. If you are a dog lover (as I most certainly am) you will also enjoy reading about the bond that develops between this girl and canine.

[..] You can't help but grow attached to Coyote and Charley. You can't help but applaud their slowly developing friendship. You can't help but hope that both Coyote and Charley will learn to trust again.

The wonderful descriptions of nature and photography are just an added bonus!

I highly recommend this book.

I mentor a 6th grade reading class for "reluctant" readers. When I started this book with the group I was immediately captivated by the story the theme. The main character who had lost her mother and then had physical problems to overcome due to an accident, bonded with a stray dog. The kids loved the book and I know a young woman in very similar circumstances - even bought an extra copy to send her. She also fell in love with the story and message that pain can fade and hope can be restored.

My 11-year-old daughter is dictating this to me: "This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is somewhat emotional, pulls you in, and it just makes you feel like you were there and feeling what this person is feeling. It is amazing. This is somewhat of an epic journey filled with love and companionship of how a girl changes on the inside and how she copes with a terrible accident and loss." She is saying that she wants to buy this book right away, after getting it from the library, because she wants to read it again immediately and she's asking whether she can read some to me every night because she wants to share it with me. I can't remember her being this excited about a book.

As an elementary school teacher, I read many, many children's books. Many of the books I've read lately have been a bit too silly and simplistic. This isn't one of those.

The author, Ms. Tolan, has an exquisite way of describing the feelings and experiences of the main character, Charley, a young girl with a lot to be depressed about. She's suffered great losses, and yet this book is about hope and healing. As I've told several of my students who've chosen to read this book, you have to get through the first two chapters to notice the improvement in Charley's mood and situation. Luckily for the reader, Ms. Tolan has a magical skill of making you feel like you're THERE, in the story, and that is enticement enough to stick with the book. You can see, hear, smell, touch and experience the surroundings "pictured" by her writing. Like a good friend, the reader needs to stand by Charley as she explains why she's in this state of mind, and watch her as she redeems and tames Coyote, and he redeems her!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sharing great writing with kids. You don't even need to share it at all. It's a great story on it's own!

Listen is a story about a girl named Charley and a dog named Coyote. Charly wants to catch Coyote. I love Coyote because he goes on a new adventure every day. My favorite part is when Charly and her friend's dog named Sadie go on a walk. Coyote goes on a walk and show's them where to go. I liked the book because every they get a step closer.

Charley is down and out. She has been injured in a car accident and is learning to walk without any aids. She is having a tough time. Her mother died a few years ago, her father works all the time and now her best friend is leaving for the summer. She thinks that it will be the most boring summer of her life. Then one day she finds a wild, stray dog. Her summer mission becomes to train the dog. Will she be able to do it? Read this book to find out!



While Charlie is taming the dog she learns a lot about her self as well.



Middle school readers who enjoy dog and or nature loves will enjoy this very much.

After my 9 year old daughter borrowed this book from the school library, she hasn't stop asking until I get her a copy! It's a wonderful book that inspires imagination!

Listen is a well written book by Stephanie S. Tolan. The story takes place on Eagle Lake, North Carolina. It's about a girl named Charley who broke her leg in a car accident. When she walks around Eagle Lake she sees a glimpse of orange run across the road. It's a dog! Charley sees the dog every day on her walks and figures she can tame him so she starts "The Taming". She names him Coyote, because of his red, orange fur and his wild characteristics. Throughout the book she gets closer and closer to Coyote. She imagines him sleeping at the foot of her bed every night, and to have him in her house on winter nights by a fire.
I gave this book 5 stars because I could really connect to it. I could feel the wind, and the rain, and the grass. It is a very interesting book because Charley and Coyote go on many adventures in the forest and around the lake. I especially liked Charley's character because she is courageous. She never backed down from Coyote. She is also very smart. I would recommend this book to anyone.

My favorite book is Listen by Stephanie S. Tolan. Other books written by Stephanie are:
Welcome To the Ark
Flight of the Raven
Surviving the Applewhites
I think the genre of this story is realistic fiction and the book theme is overcoming challenges and friendship.
Stephanie writs about bonds, In Listen is a bond between dog and girl and I think in Surviving the Applewhites is a bond between a bad kid and a crazy family. The main characters are Charley and Cyote. My favorite character is Charley because she is a fighter she never backs down she is determined she overcomes so many challenges.
Charley is a girl whose mom died, who has a rod in her leg, and who sees a wild dog and needs to "tame" it. This is an important seen from the book.
It is sitting tall and rock still on a smooth patch of bare red dirt at the base of a big sweet gum tree in the woods, barely visible between the scrubby bushes and the tangle of honeysuckle vine that edge the road. It is red-gold, almost the collar of the ground it is sitting on, its head high, its dark ears pricked sharply in her direction. The dog's eyes, dark in a narrow, golden face, are looking directly at her. She feels a kind of tremor, as if an electric shock has passed from the dog to her and back again.
I highly recommend this book to people who like to read chapter books. I like this book because it is about friendship between a girl and a dog.