A Book You’ll Want to Read
Recommended and reviewed by Diana Boyle
As a middle school teacher for 35 years, I had the opportunity to read a few outstanding YA (young adult) books. One that stands heads and shoulders above the rest is My Life in Dog Years, by the beloved children’s author, Gary Paulsen.
There are 9 chapters in the book, each representing a dog in the author’s life. There is Cookie, the sled dog, to whom the book is dedicated. His first dog, Snowball, who was his constant companion from the age of 7. Ike the hunter and Dirk, the bodyguard. Paulsen bought Fred for five bucks from a kid outside the supermarket. Fred was just a little pup at the time, but he managed to wreck much of Paulsen's house in the first twenty minutes he was there. Quincy was resourceful and scrappy, fighting his way across the Alaskan tundra to find a home after he was abandoned on the side of a freeway. One chapter features Caesar, the gentle giant of Great Dane. We follow Rex on one day's rounds, as he checked up on all the farm animals and looked after the children.
The final chapter is Josh, Paulsen’s Border Collie, whom he refers to as “the smartest dog in the world”. Josh is the reason I first read the book, as a sixth grade science teacher in Rabat, Morocco. I started my unit on “Animal Behavior” by reading Josh’s chapter. The librarian told me that after I read that chapter to the students, the booked was checked out solid for the rest of the year.
Josh is a quintessential Border Collie: loving, focused and incredibly intelligent. But, says Paulsen, “more than that, he is real. When I am riding around with him in my truck and he sits next to me looking out the window I am speak to him, say ‘Look at that nice lawn’ or ‘they have a sale on fencing at the lumberyard’ and he will look at me and sometime, I swear, turn back to me and nod.”
When Josh first arrives, he spent hours and hours just watching Paulsen. Observing. He saw him, just once, put on a Stetson to go out and saddle his horse. The next time Paulseon put the Stetson on, Josh ran out the front door, to the corral, and cut the mare away from the rest of the horses, and led her her to where Paulsen stood at the front gate. Josh’s chapter is full of these kinds of stories. He knows dozens and dozens of words and responds to them out of context. Josh had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to be tickled. One day, when Paulsen was down about something, Josh came over and started tickling him in the ribs – trying to cheer him up.
Josh’s chapter is full of these kinds of stories, as are the first 8 chapters. Go to your online public library or Amazon and download a copy of this incredible book!