Synopsis
Jack, a storm-snatched cabin boy, washes up on a mysterious island. He finds sheep, sheep dogs, and wild dogs called fangos, but strangely, no people. Jack struggles to survive, to understand the dogs, and to befriend a little Border collie named Moxie. She and the other sheep dogs are mystified by the skinny boy, who does not fit their myths about people. During a final battle between the fangos and the sheep dogs, Jack finds he can communicate with the dogs, a discovery that deepens his friendship with Moxie and validates his life on the island. But the crew from Jack's ship returns to rescue him-now that Jack does not want to be rescued.
This middle-grade novel, told from Moxie's and Jack's alternating points of view, reads like a classic adventure story-vivid, swiftly paced, and woven with the timeless themes of a boy's self-reliance and the intense loyalty of dogs.
Publishers Weekly
A tender exploration of the bond between man and his best friend, Morgan's thoughtful adventure uses the relationship between human and animal to cast a warm glow on each. The narrative alternates between the point of view of Moxie, one of the dogs living on a remote island years after his master died in a house fire, and Jack, an orphan who is taken in by a crew of sailors only to be shipwrecked and deposited alone on Moxie's island. The old blind dog Sage has been telling of a messianic return of "the humans," and Jack's arrival on the beach is seen as a great blessing by most, but as an ominous portent to the suspicious Kelso. Morgan uses simple, clean prose to paint two separate pictures of two distinct perspectives on innocence-the kind that Jack has apparently just lost, having to face the world on his own once again, and the kind that Moxie is just discovering, rooted in the singular love that comes from the connection between man and dog. Many insights come from the canines' view of humanity ("Humans are complicated.... I was told that often humans think by barking in their minds. The inside of a human's mind must be a very noisy place," Sage tells Moxie). The pacing is swift, and the surprising and touching finale begs for a sequel. Ages 9-12. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.