Dogtown by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko illustrated by Wallace West

"Your heart is a muscle. 

It just grows stronger the more you use it."

Dogtown, the home for stray dogs, is now home to Chance. Months ago, her loving family left for a sabbatical and they couldn't take their loved dog - Chance. The family did employ a dogsitter to look after her in their home but this girl did not love dogs and when her boyfriend moved in things became violent and unbearable for Chance. There are other sad details to this part of the story but I will let you discover these for yourself. 

As the story opens, we meet Chance she now lives at Dogtown. Luckily the Manager of the facility has quite quickly decided Chance is a lucky dog. She doesn't know that a tiny mouse (great friend to Chance) made sure this human would think Chance was special. So Chance is free to wander about Dogtown. She is does not have to be confined to a cage. This means she is the perfect narrator - able to describe the other dogs at the shelter and watch all the comings and goings. Unfortunately, this shelter also takes in robot dogs. You will laugh when you read that they even have fleas.

"Most of the robot dogs at Dogtown were known by their breed names: eDog, iDog, Aibo, RoboRover, or Pup1000. But those aren't real dog breeds like pug and pointers and Pekinese. Nothing is real about a metal dog. ... Besides a lot of them are in bad shape by the time they get to Dogtown.Tails broken, wires poking out, charger missing. Nothing sadder than a plugged in pooch who can't wag his own tail. He'd go straight to the e-waste heap." Hear this on the audio sample.

One of these robot dogs is very strange. He is not broken. He sits in his cage reading his instruction manual. Then one day some kids arrive at the dog shelter. They are part of a reading program and one boy, Quinn, is somehow able to bond with Metal Head. Over time the little boy learns to read his favourite book - Green Eggs and Ham. But then the book is destroyed and Quinn is no longer allowed to come to the shelter. It turns out one of the dogs - Buster - has chewed it up. Why? Because Metal Head has been given a top position in the shelter which means he, and other robot dogs, are likely to be adopted by loving families well before they choose a live dog. Bottom line - jealousy!

If a dog is left at the shelter for too long their name goes on a List. All of the dogs at the shelter love an old Saint Bernard named Geraldine. Her name is on the List. Metal Head seizes his opportunity. He makes a bargain. If he can ensure Geraldine is adopted, Chance and Mouse must help him escape. Metal Head is desperate to be reunited with his young owner James. The next scenes reminded me of the mayhem of Toy Story - I raced through these chapters hoping little Chance would find her all-important happy ending. Could there be a way Chance could find her precious family again?

Bookseller blurb: A story of kindness and finding a home. Dogtown is a shelter for stray dogs, misbehaving dogs, and discarded robot dogs, whose owners have outgrown them. When two dogs - and a mouse - embark on an adventure to find their forever homes, there is danger, cheese sandwiches, a charging station, and some unexpected kindnesses along the way. ... Dogtown is a shelter for stray dogs, misbehaving dogs, and discarded robot dogs, whose owners have outgrown them. Chance, a real dog, has been in Dogtown since his owners unwittingly left him with irresponsible dog-sitters who skipped town. Metal Head is a robot dog who dreams of being back in a real home. And Mouse is a mouse who has the run of Dogtown, pilfering kibble, and performing clever feats to protect the dogs he loves. When Chance and Metal Head embark on an adventure to find their forever homes, there is danger, cheese sandwiches, a charging station, and some unexpected kindnesses along the way.

Every page of this book made me sigh with happiness.  I have been a small reading slump so thank goodness I found Dogtown which I read in one gulp! This book would be a terrific class read aloud for Grade 2 or 3 and a wonderful book to share in a family - the chapters are mostly only one or two pages. I highly recommend you add this book to your library or Christmas book shopping list. It has only just arrived here in Australia - October 2023 - in paperback so you are sure to easily find a copy in your local independent bookstore. Oh, and you do know I LOVE books about robots (and dogs too). 

I expected to see a Kirkus Star for this book but alas no.

Eminently readable and appealing; will tug at dog-loving readers’ heartstrings. Kirkus

I love it when books surprise me, as it doesn't happen often. The format of Dogtown threw me. ... There are definitely cute moments, but there's also a LOT more depth than I was expecting! It's definitely more of a middle grade book, and I'd give it to fourth grade readers and up. With the prevalence of ChatGPT, Metal Head's story will resonate with readers who question what it means to have feelings and emotions. Ms Yingling Reads

Short chapters and Chance’s snappy narration keep the pace rolling, but Applegate and Choldenko adeptly make space for gently poignant moments along the way. An accessible, appealing romp that provides a dog’s-eye view of the nature of hope, belonging, and found family. The Horn Book Magazine

Listen to an interview with Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko. 

At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is that you write a book that, even if it’s just one child, they hug it to their chest and love it. It’s so important to be entertaining. ...  And so, if one kid picks this up and loves it and laughs and maybe thinks a little bit more about friendship and kindness, I think we’ve done our job. Katherine Applegate

Back in 2011 I read No Passengers beyond this Point by Gennifer Choldenko. Click here to see her webpage. It is wonderful that these two authors have collaborated to write this emotional, at times funny, truthful and warmhearted story about two dogs and a sweet little mouse. 

Other books by Katherine Applegate:

Look for these junior novels and picture books:

Choosing Crumble

Spunky tells all

Wondrous Rex

Let's get a pup!

Finding you

Stormy

Mutt Dog

Three

Charlie's Checklist

I Always Wanted one

And here are other books for readers aged 10+ that I highly recommend:

Sunshine

The Way of the Dog

Talking to Alaska

Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart

You. Me. Together. Always.

... one thing wouldn't budge: the hard tug of his love for that boy. That love was the biggest truth he could ever imagine.

His heart glowed to a gold more glorious than any Forever. It shone brighter than all the blue skies and green fields and sunny days of anywhere and everywhere put together.

A few years ago I read another Dan Gemeinhart book - The Honest Truth - it captivated me. Last month I spied this book by Dan at a library book fair and the Teacher-Librarian kindly gave me this copy. Good Dog is a 'harder' book than The Honest Truth. Harder in the sense of emotional distress. The lines between good and evil are powerfully drawn. The scenes between the hell hounds and our two dog heroes Brodie and Tuck are harrowing. This is not a book for the faint-hearted.

Brodie has died. As the story opens he is in the afterlife but this is a place of transition. Brodie cannot move on because he has unfinished business back with his boy. He is allowed to go back to the land of the living but there are conditions. He will be invisible to humans and his time will be short.

"You're not going back as you were. You're going back as you are. A spirit. Nothing more. You're going back to a living world ... but you're going back dead. ... Your spirit will still have life for a while, down there,' the angel said. 'You'll even be able to see the glow of it. But with each moment in that world, it will fade. When your glow is gone, Brodie, you'll be stuck. You'll be lost. Forever."

"Every time you really touch the world, every time you make yourself real enough to do something - like jump on a truck - it costs you a little bit of your soul. Even walking down this sidewalk right now, all this touching of the world ... it's taking a little of our souls, just a drop at a time."

Brodie listens to these warnings but he knows he simply has no choice. His boy needs him. Snatches of his former life and especially his final moments with Aiden play out in his mind in fragmented flashbacks. For the reader, these are like pieces of an unfolding puzzle. I enjoy storytelling like this where the reader has to put in some work to understand what has happened in the past.  The reader also has to trust the author will keep you safe over the course of this dangerous journey.

All of your senses will be on high alert when you read Good Dog. Here is an example - the hell hound bites into Brodie:

"Darkly's teeth sank into his shoulder. No. His teeth sank into ... him. It was like nothing he'd ever felt. His teeth sank deep, and a high, ripping whimper was torn from Brodie's throat. But it didn't feel like pain, this bite. It felt far worse than pain."

I'd like to talk about motivations at this point. Brodie needs to help his boy and this is easy to understand but what of Tuck? He is a loyal companion to Brodie but he also has unfinished business from his former life. Tuck is such a great dog. I wanted to reach out and hug him. He is full of life and bounce but it is the cat Patsy who is the most complex character and I found myself constantly questioning her true motives for helping Brodie.

"Why are you even here, Patsy? Really. If you don't wanna help, if you think we're too dumb and this whole thing is stupid, then why are you hanging around?' 'I told you, sausage-for-brains, I was bored.' 'No way,' Brodie snapped. 'You wouldn't come all this way and go through all this stuff just 'cause you were bored. There's gotta be another reason. Tell us. What is it?"

I would recommend Good Dog for a very mature senior Primary student. I would follow Good Dog with The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett and Dog by Andy Mulligan.  For a slightly younger audience take a look at One dog and his boy by Eva Ibbotson which has the same emotional arc. Here is a video where you can see Dan talking about his book. Click on the reviews below for more plot details.


Action-packed, highly suspenseful, and deeply moving. Perfect. Kirkus

Brodie senses before he thinks; his narrative flows in visceral waves of experience. These sensory pleasures are no match for the emotional sturdiness of Brodie’s good heart.  BookPage