The Dog with Golden Eyes - Hardcover

Wilbur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1571316140 ISBN 13: 9781571316141

Publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1998

Synopsis

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

About this title

Review

Winner of the Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature, "The Dog with Golden Eyes" is not only a factual nature story but also a book about responsibility in the face of tough issues. Cassie feels that the world is collapsing. Her father leaves her and her mother alone, Cassie's best friend dumps her, and her mother refuses to let her have her fondest wish: a dog. When a big white dog shows up at her house, Cassie decides to adopt it, naming it Toklata. She learns to earn money to pay for dog food, and, in her curiosity about Toklata's background, she comes to realize that her adopted dog is an Arctic wolf. Cassie also realizes that a wolf can't be treated like a dog nor is a wolf safe living near human society. When Cassie comes to terms with the inevitability that Toklata must be returned to the wilderness, she also finds out that, for her own future, what seems like a closed door can really be an open window of opportunity. --Susan Swartwout

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1571316140
• ISBN 13: 9781571316141
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160