Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Synopsis
More than anything, Dessa Dean needed a friend. A friend with whom she could share her heart. Then there came a scratchin’ at the door and Dessa Dean’s life was forever changed. This is the story of a girl, a dog, and the friendship that saves them both.
VOYA
Nuzum's second novel, following A Small White Scar (Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins, 2006), is tightly focused on two human characters: eleven-year-old Dessa Dean and her father. Dessa has been traumatized after barely surviving the mountain snowstorm that killed her mother. Now afraid to leave the cabin because of her frostbitten ears-and worse, her terrible memories of nearly freezing to death beside her mother-Dessa spends long, lonely days indoors while her father ekes out a hunting and trapping subsistence. Along comes a large, hungry dog who appreciates Dessa's handouts but fears being trapped in the small cabin. Despite the winter cold, Dessa leaves the door open, so the wary dog can come and go as she pleases. With the cabin so welcoming and the smells of Dessa's Christmas dinner wafting through the clear mountain air, a fourth, very large character breaks her hibernation and lumbers into the cabin, giving the dog a chance to defend her new home and Dessa a reason to finally go outdoors again. Dessa's sweet, simple narration, inflected with a bit of backwoods dialect, will draw preteen readers to this heartwarming tale of friendship between a dog who does not want to be confined and a girl who is afraid to leave her self-imposed confinement. The isolated setting, deep snow, and small cast of thoughtful, quiet characters combine to build a subdued atmosphere that is finally joyfully broken by the happy barks of "The Leanin' Dog," as Dessa names her new friend. Reviewer: Walter Hogan