Molly's Story: A Dog's Purpose Novel: A Heartwarming Tale of a Dog and Her Girl, by W. Bruce Cameron (Starscape, 2019, 108 pp, $6.99, ages 7-11, grades 4-6) Review by Skye Anderson
Heartwarming Tale of a Dog and Her Girl
Molly is a very special dog with a very important purpose: to take care of her girl, CJ, and keep her safe and warm and* happy. But it can be a hard job at times for a puppy.
In the Beginning, . . . .
I don't know how author W. Bruce Cameron does it -
begins each of the eight books I have read (so far) with the birth of our main puppy's litter, how he (mostly, boy puppies) can smell and feel, how much he loves his mother dog, how many brothers and sisters he has to step on or get piled on by, and on and on, yet Cameron writes each beginning, the same they may be, as if each was the first.
Molly's story is full of surprises and may be just the best written book in the series of 10, with situation solutions, some of which you can guess and some solutions which will be perfectly handled yet not what you may have guessed and others you simply can't guess. And Molly's story may be the most adult** book of the series so parents can read along and chat about Molly too.
Molly's Story
Told by Molly herself, with descriptions of things we humans know about but dogs don't understand*** make for more fun guesses by the reader. For example, there are bouncy, jumpy animals that I couldn't identify until many pages later when they were named.
CJ lives with her mom who is not the world's best mother to put it mildly. Her friend Trent gets a new puppy, and CJ and Molly choose each other. Only one problem: CJ's mom does not like animals so Molly has to go into hiding in the basement and it's so hard for a young lonely pup to be quiet.
Molly's story may just become your favorite Puppy Tale, too!
*"Helping CJ be less sad was my most important job. I just wished I were better at it. Sometimes the bad feelings felt as if they were buried so deep inside her they'd never go away." (forgot to write down the page number)
**truancy (skipping school), single mom who goes away for weekends and takes Molly to the pound, dog training, petty theft and its consequences, being neglected by your mom, finding a talent CJ didn't know she had, a little bit of science and medicine, etc.
***"And the the two humans did more of that talking. I simply did not understand why people thought it so important to spend so much time making noise. Even dogs (most of the time) only bark when there is a reason to bark. Maybe people do it because they are just not that good at playing. Even CJ didn't like to chase wrestle the way Rocky [Molly's littermate] did." p186
And more wonderful reading adventures by W. Bruce Cameron that are reviewed here:
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