Dog with Golden Eyes

by Wilbur, Mark Coyle (Illustrator)

Overview

Lonely thirteen-year-old Cassie commences her journey into adulthood when she unwittingly befriends an arctic wolf lost in her town and decides to care for him until she can find his real owners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571316158
Publisher:	Milkweed Editions
Publication date:	07/01/1998
Series:	Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature Series
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.24(w) x 8.02(h) x 0.61(d)
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 14 Years

Editorial Reviews

Thirteen-year-old Cassie's plight is not new: she wants a dog and her mother won't allow it. Cassie is trying to "adopt" a stray without her mother finding out. However, this particular "aristocratic"-looking canine with fur "so white it shines like silver" is actually an arctic wolf--though Cassie does not realize it until halfway through the story. As Cassie struggles to tame the animal and save it from a dog catcher, she is plagued by other typical adolescent worries: losing her best friend, being overweight, having her parents separate (her father left without saying good-bye) and receiving poor grades at school. Wilbur (A Horse Called Holiday: A Guide for Parents of Horse-Crazy Kids) offers pat solutions to most of Cassie's problems and provides a happy ending for all, including the wolf, who is reunited with his original owners. Though it is written in unconvincing, pedestrian prose ("She put up with reports of freeway smashups and gang violence in order to watch the TV show about a teenage girl and her friends"), this tale is chock full of information about dog and wolf behavior, and may be of interest to animal lovers. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 8-13. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Thirteen-year-old Cassie has problems. She's borderline fat and has just been abandoned by her best friend, not to mention her father. She's sure a dog would solve all of her problems, so when a gorgeous but wild white dog appears in her backyard, she begins feeding and taming it. But dog food is expensive, so Cassie finds herself a job. Suddenly there's no time to overeat, no time for anything but keeping the dog fed and hidden from her mother. The saving of Cassie comes to a head when her dog turns into a wolf. Milkweed is a not-for-profit press specializing in humane themes, and Wilbur educates both Cassie and the reader with the do's and don'ts of wolf care.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

Gr 4-7-Cassie, 13, is immature, overweight, terribly shy, and very lonely. She lives with her overworked single mother who does not seem to know how to relate to her bright but alienated daughter. One day Cassie sees a stray dog and becomes fixated on making it her own secret pet. The girl's need to care for the animal helps her to emerge from her shell and approach the adults in her life who are willing to talk to her (unlike her self-absorbed mother) and eventually some peers. While researching dogs with the help of her science teacher, Cassie realizes that the stray she has adopted is actually an arctic wolf, and so her mission is altered from making this animal her pet to finding its rightful place. She matures, loses weight, and explores animal-rights issues. The story concludes with an exciting climax and a pat resolution in which every loose end is neatly tied. While the plot is overly simplistic, this novel is an easy read that will appeal to animal lovers and reluctant readers. Barbara Corcoran's Wolf at the Door (Atheneum, 1993) gives a more sophisticated look at similar issues.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL

School Library Journal - School Library Journal

Caring for a stray animal braces up a lonely, overweight California teenager in this relentlessly wholesome story. Cassie is going through a bad patch: Her father has deserted the family, her mother never seems to let up on her; her best friend has drifted off; and her self-esteem is slipping away with her grades. Sitting on the back porch downing cookie sandwiches, she sees what looks like a large white dog at the edge of the yard. Naming him Toklata, after a town in Alaska, Cassie leaves food for him, and he soon becomes a rough but approachable companion. Cassie quickly finds herself nudged into uncharacteristic activities, taking walks in the woods, skipping snacks, nerving herself to ask for a job to pay for dog food, asking a teacher for help when she can't find Tokie's breed in her dog encyclopedia. Tokie turns out to be a wolf, raised by humans and escaped from a research station; to prevent him from being hunted down and shot, Cassie entices him into her house and holds off police for several hours. Though Wilbur adopts a lecturing tone about wolves as bad pets, she doesn't try to resolve every conflict, and allows readers to see for themselves how Cassie is changed by each challenge: When she lands a summer job at the research station, it's not a convenient piece of plotting but a well-earned opportunity. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews