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I think we're going to do dogs for the rest of the month. Any ideas classic (or ought to be classic) dog-themed literature? Lassie comes to mind, but is that even a book? Jim Herriot, need to check about that. Any more ideas? Throw 'em at me! As far as level, anything from junior high to adult is fine. Humor is good.

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Sounder

Where the Red Fern Grows

 

Roger Caras has a book that I LOVED when I was a kid called Yankee: Inside Story of a Champion Bloodhound. It's about what the title suggests--raising and showing a Bloodhound. I think it's out of print now, though. and it's non-fiction, of course.

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I think we're going to do dogs for the rest of the month. Any ideas classic (or ought to be classic) dog-themed literature? Lassie comes to mind, but is that even a book? Jim Herriot, need to check about that. Any more ideas? Throw 'em at me! As far as level, anything from junior high to adult is fine. Humor is good.

Lassie Come-Home is one of my favorite books. ;-)

 

There's a very sweet, heart-breaking, makes-me-cry-until-the-happy-ending book called Hurry Home, Candy. The author is ::thinking, thinking:: Meinert DeJong (sp?). It's the only one of his books that I've liked.

 

Beautiful Joe. Apparently it did for dogs what Black Beauty did for horses.

 

And there's Greyfriar's Bobby, a true story about a dog in Scotland.

 

Albert Payson Terhune wrote a number of books about dogs, noteably Lad: A Dog (and there are sequels).

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I think we're going to do dogs for the rest of the month. Any ideas classic (or ought to be classic) dog-themed literature? Lassie comes to mind, but is that even a book?

 

Eric Knight - Lassie Come-Home

 

Jim Herriot, need to check about that.

 

James Herriot's Favourite Dog Stories

 

Any more ideas? Throw 'em at me! As far as level, anything from junior high to adult is fine. Humor is good.

 

Dodie Smith - The Hundred and One Dalmatians

Dodie Smith - The Starlight Barking

Sheila Burnford - The Incredible Journey

Richard Adams - The Plague Dogs

Henrietta Branford - Fire, Bed and Bone

Daniel Pennac - Dog

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Shiloh

Wilson Rawls - Where the Red Fern Grows

Jack London - The Call of the Wild

J.R.R. Tolkien - Roverandom

any one of several authors - Greyfriars Bobby

Edited by Xander
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Here is a favorite of our family's.

Lad: A Dog

 

If you like old books and find a vintage copy of this, know that the version I linked has been sanitized of one or more racist remarks. I haven't seen the offensive parts, but I recommended it to a friend who bought an old copy and who gave me the heads up, since I recommended it to her. There were tears at the end for us, and I believe more than one dead dog in this story. The author wrote several books on dogs.

 

I hear the saddest dog book is Bob, Son of Battle. I've never read it, since I still cry about my dog who had to be put down nearly 11 years ago!

 

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We love the Lad books too. Some of them have also been rewritten in a short, easy reader format.

 

One of my all-time favorite books is Ajax, the Warrior, by M.E. Patchett. Ajax is an Australian dingo, his owner is a girl growing up more or less without other child companionship on a sheep station in Australia. Her companions are Ajax, Algy (a big drooly dog) and Benjy (a little terrier).

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A young adult novel, Nop's Trial is a good novel of a Border Collie running sheep herding trials and the trials the owner goes through when he is stolen. It has a happy ending, although the story clearly illustrates how dogs can be treated so inhumanely by some people. While stolen, Nop encounters several "owners" and is abused. So if your DD is very sensitive, this may not be the book for your DD. There is a sequel, Nop's Hope, as well. Both books are very good and really allow you to see the personality of a Border Collie and what makes them so unique as a breed. The books are set in Virginia and are out of print

 

For your younger one, Floss is a cute picture book story of a Border Collie who longs to play ball with the kids instead of herding sheep. It is set in northern England. There are others as sequels.

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I can't believe no one has suggested Jim Kjelgaard!! He wrote Big Red and a bunch of other dog books, mostly stories of boys and their adventures with their dogs. They are mostly out of print now, try your library - I went through a dog phase as a child and read EVERY one of his books, loved them all!

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There is a version of Marley and Me for younger readers age 9-12. I have not read this version but I would guess it is a "cleaned up" with mature topics omitted. It's called Marley: A Dog Like No Other: A Special Adaptation for Young Readers.

 

Molly

 

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A Dog's Life by Peter Mayle is hilarious. It's written to adults, but is readable by kids who are chapter book readers. My son read it for fun after Call of the Wild, which IMO is a classic, but rather brutal book, and I've personally always found it to be a bit of a downer. We chose A Dog's Life because it's told by the dog, like Call of the Wild. It's his account of his early life in a litter of 12 puppies and wandering the French countryside until he's found and adopted by Mayle.

 

For really silly, there's always the Bunnicula books, which are also the dog (and cat's) account of events.

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I think we're going to do dogs for the rest of the month. Any ideas classic (or ought to be classic) dog-themed literature? Lassie comes to mind, but is that even a book? Jim Herriot, need to check about that. Any more ideas? Throw 'em at me! As far as level, anything from junior high to adult is fine. Humor is good.

 

Ribsy

Call of the Wild, White Fang

The Incredible Journey

Hank the Cow Dog

The Cruelest Miles (story of the epidemic and vaccine delivery that made Balto famous)

101 Dalmations (the book is actually very good)

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I think we're going to do dogs for the rest of the month. Any ideas classic (or ought to be classic) dog-themed literature? Lassie comes to mind, but is that even a book? Jim Herriot, need to check about that. Any more ideas? Throw 'em at me! As far as level, anything from junior high to adult is fine. Humor is good.

 

Lassie Come Home

Dog of Flanders (in length somewhere between a novel and a short story)

Where the Red Fern Grows

Incredible Journey (the movie Homeward Bound was loosely based on this)

Old Yeller

Lad, a Dog

Big Red

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  • 2 months later...

My son loves books that involve dogs. He suggested:

 

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog by Susannah Charleson

and

Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow

 

Those are 3 that he has read in the past few weeks and really enjoyed.

 

Edit: Oops sorry just noticed you were looking for Classics!!

Edited by ChiMomNP
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Cujo, by Stephen King?

 

Just kidding. :D The ones I would have suggested were all already posted on the first page (Shiloh, Old Yeller, Sounder, Because of Winn Dixie, The Incredible Journey, etc).

 

ETA: There might be other books about Alaskan sled dogs? I can't think of titles off hand but maybe look it up?

Edited by NanceXToo
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You could go with the Scottish trifecta of:

Bob, Son of Battle (not a gentle story)

Lassie Come-Home

Greyfriars Bobby (not entirely factual)

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