Book Review: Bailey's Story (middle school, dogs)

Bailey's Story: An Irresistible Tale of a Dog and His Boy, by W. Bruce Cameron* (Scholastic, $5.99PB, 2016, 208pp, with study guide questions for ages 8-12, grades 3-7) Review by Skye Anderson

In Bailey's Story, we meet Golden Retriever Bailey as a little pup, still with his litter. Through various adventures, he lands with his boy Ethan and tells us about his cat, his farm, and training his family to let him sleep with Ethan. And yet, even though Bailey has found his person, he asks himself why. What is his purpose in life?

Bailey is telling his story which is part of the book for older teens and adults (16 and up), A Dog's Purpose, reviewed here.

Author W. Bruce Cameron tells of the soul of a dog through four or five different dogs trying to discover his/her purpose in life with regards to humans, especially one boy (Ethan). Bailey's story comprises the majority of the book and seems to be condensed, rewritten or mostly taken verbatim from Purpose. This way, older siblings and parents can read about Bailey at the same time as middle-schoolers can read about him, then go on to Ellie and other puppies.

Each chapter in Bailey's book, though not titled, has the silhouette of a Golden, while chapters in Purpose have silhouettes of a puppy or a dog in a different position - all of which makes it fun to guess at the meaning of that chapter.

We read Purpose in a couple of days, followed by Bailey's story and surmised the above so it was hard to finish, knowing what was coming next, especially if it was a scary or sad incident. But, not to worry - all turns out best in the end. We think we may read the next Puppy Tale to see if we guessed Cameron's MO (modus operandi) correctly, and if we did, we may skip some or all of the others. After all, Cameron has plenty of great reads that we haven't read yet. However, this is still a great series for adults to read as their middle-schoolers read the puppy tales.

What Does Bailey Do?

Bailey takes care of his boy: notices when he is sad and nose bumps him for comfort. Bailey also loves games like Lick the Plate, This Ball is Mine, Tug on the Sock, and Rescue Me, and he really tries to understand humans and other animals. When Hannah brought over some brownies in a basket, Bailey ". . . sat down, trying hard to look as nice as possible so she'd hand the basket over to me." (p 105) And when winter finally comes to Michigan and Ethan goes sledding, Bailey writes, "I stared in astonishment. I never knew that the boy could move like that! Instead of walking or running, stiffly upright on two legs, he was zooming close to the ground. I tore down the hill after him, barking with excitement and surprise." (p 71-2)

*Another book in this series is Ellie's Story, reviewed here