The Tale of Rescue

Starred review from September 28, 2015
Rosen has many dog-themed titles to his creditâThe Company of Dogs and The Hound Dog's Haiku, among othersâand in this brief tale, he focuses on the heroic effort of one Australian cattle dog to help a family caught in a whiteout snowstorm. The story is told without proper names or deep characterization; readers move through the dramatic action and poetic language as if privy to someone else's dream or recreated memory. The urgent pace of the cattle dog's rescue attempt ("She struggled forward and onward, springing up and onto the snow, sinking down, and leaping again, ignoring the exhaustion and pain, because everything, absolutely everything depended on her") is coupled with striking poetic language during quieter moments: "their overlapping parallel tracks left an empty musical staff on the blank pages of the smooth fields. Later, they returned on foot and their boot prints added the notes." Fellows's watercolor illustrations add an ephemeral quality to the fleeting story, helping create the distant but satisfying tone of this lovely prose-poem adventure. Ages 10âup.

November 1, 2015

Gr 4-7-A Florida family of three-mother, father, and 10-year-old son-go on vacation to introduce the boy to a true Appalachian winter. An early morning hike through the snowy landscape turns dangerous as a sudden blizzard descends. Now trapped in a whiteout with almost no visibility, the snow too deep to walk through, the wind beating them back, they realize that their only chance is for the father's piercing whistle to be heard. Meanwhile, at a nearby farm, an Australian cattle dog hears the whistle and races toward it. Finding the family covered with ice in the freezing rain, she returns to the farm, rounds up her herd of cows, and guides them on a trek to clear a path to the stranded family. Beautifully lyrical language ("The snow spackled the evergreens' boughs.... The ground glistened like finely grated diamonds."), narrative tension, and accurate portrayal of animal behavior mark this gem of a novella. Avoiding anthropomorphism, Rosen has created a canine hero who uses her instincts and skill to save the day. An epilogue has the boy revisiting the farm years later for a sense of closure. Exquisite full-page watercolor illustrations throughout combine with an omniscient narrative voice for an appealing package. VERDICT An excellent selection for fans of survival literature and realistic animal adventure.-Marie Orlando, formerly at Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 15, 2015
A cattle dog rescues a family caught in a blizzard in this middle-grade adventure. One of the first things readers will notice is the story's thoughtful and deliberate third-person narration, sounding much like a timeless tale told 'round the hearth and quite distinct from the many chatty, casual narratives popular in current middle-grade fiction. Adding to the traditional storytelling tone, the members of the family in the story-a 10-year-old boy and his parents-are not given names, and the name of the dog who saves them is not revealed until the end. But this somewhat formal narrative style doesn't mean it isn't an exciting tale of adventure. Rosen portrays the dog's attempts to save the family so astutely that readers will feel the dog's determination and exhaustion, and his somber, parsed descriptions of the blizzard and the family's subsequent disorientation in the whiteout bring their cold and fear close. The writing is matched by Fellows' superb watercolor illustrations-expertly rendered scenes that are, thankfully, liberally sprinkled throughout. When the rescued family leaves the farm the dog leads them to without even learning the name of the dog or meeting her again, readers may cry foul, but the epilogue sets things right as the story comes full circle. A fine, superbly illustrated tale of adventure, bravery, and loyalty. (Adventure. 8-13)

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