STRAYDOG by Kathe Koja, Frances Foster Books, Farrar Straus and Giroux, April 2002

STRAYDOG is the story of a pair of high school outcasts, Rachel and Griffin, who are both extraordinary writers. Rachel is a volunteer at an animal shelter where there are plenty of dead dogs. Griffin has just transferred to her school from a gifted and talented program--one in a series of schools that has found him too difficult to deal with. Their English teacher pairs them up for peer editing.

"...I look past him, out the window. Today there's a wind in the trees, old dead leaves torn free and sent high flying: like thoughts, dreams, days in the future, things that will happen that right now we can't see. He's waiting but I don't say anything, not sure how much to tell him, how much I want to tell. He doesn't push, he eats a chip, he offers me some of his green mango tea until finally 'She's at the shelter,' I say, 'at Brookdale, where I work. She's this beautiful collie mix, but she's a street dog, feral, you know? When they get like that they're hard to tame, really hard because they don't trust anybody, they've had it too bad, too many people have been mean to them...' My voice is rising, heads are turning our way so 'I want her,' I say more quietly. 'But I don't know if she'll ever trust me enough.'

He takes out a Hershey bar, breaks it in two and 'Doesn't it bother you?' he asks, head to one side; he's got an earring under all that blond, a tiny silver skull and crossbones. The candy is soft and sweet, melting on my tongue, melting into nothing; outside a car goes by, the bass so loud you can feel it in the glass. 'To work there and see that? Abused animals, and all?'"

Of course, it bothers her. So many animals end up being euthanized. But like others involved with the shelter, what keeps her going is that knowledge that to each animal that is saved, it makes all the difference in the world. And she knows which dog she wants to personally save. Rachel's initial reason for volunteering at the shelter had been her mother's serious allergies to dog and cat hair. But it is now her obsession and her inspiration. She begins creating a story about the pre-shelter life of that feral dog, who she names Grrl; we get to see pieces of it throughout the book.

"...so i go looking sniffing, throat so dry, worse almost than hungry to be thirsty; almost. once in a bad thirst i drank green water, two licks bright green and sweet and it made me sick, sick like claws digging in my belly, so sick i almost closed my eyes always. more careful now, i search, sniff, dry tongue in dry mouth till finally by a food place i find water, brown trickled pond by one of the metal squares, i drink it all..."

This is both a beautiful and gritty tale that is sure to have a dramatic effect on many of its readers. I, for one, won't soon forget it.

Richie Partington

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