The Poet's Dog

Starred review from June 20, 2016
Newbery Medalist MacLachlan creates a spare, moving tale told from the perspective of Teddy, the dog of the title. Teddy can speak, but only poets and children can understand him, so Teddy isn’t surprised when both Nicholas (Nickel) and his younger sister, Flora, ask him for help when they get lost in a snowstorm. Since the death of his owner and friend, Sylvan, Teddy has relied on Sylvan’s student, Ellie, for care. But Ellie and Teddy know that the arrangement isn’t forever, and Teddy needs to find a way to move on and love again. Using simple words that even youngest readers will understand and enjoy, MacLachlan tackles subjects such as death and mourning with understated grace (“And he closes his eyes, his hands still on my neck. By the time Ellie gets there he is still. Silence”). Overarching themes of love and family permeate the narrative, providing readers of all ages with a deep understanding of the relationship Teddy had with his previous owner and the one he is building with his new family. Ages 6–10. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content.

Narrator Michael Curran-Dorsano takes on the roles of Teddy, the "talking" Irish wolfhound and dear companion of Sylvan the poet, and of 11-year-old Nickel and 8-year-old Flora, the children Teddy rescues from a wintry blizzard. It is the simpatico nature of poets, children, and animals that enables each to understand and talk to the others. As the children spend days with Teddy in the cabin, they come to know the story of the relationship between the poet (now deceased) and his dog and the poignancy of togetherness in times of sorrow, danger, and joy. Given Curran-Dorsano's unassuming narration, there are moments when one forgets whether the speaker is human or canine. While a bit confusing at times, overall, the production has great power. A.R. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2016

Gr 3-5-Nikel and his sister Flora are caught in a blizzard. Left in a car by their mother, who went to get help and did not return, they are saved by Teddy; it's a heroic act for a human but all the more impressive for a dog. Teddy was once rescued himself, taken from a shelter by a poet named Sylvan, who surrounded him with words and read him Shakespeare, James Joyce, and C.S. Lewis, as well as his favorite book, Donald Hall's Ox-Cart Man. Though Teddy comprehends words, only poets and children can understand the canine. Nikel, Flora, and Teddy spend several days together at the dog's cabin while the blizzard rages on, and Teddy tells the children about his life with Sylvan and how Sylvan recently passed away. Similar in length to a beginning reader, the novel has sophisticated vocabulary and sensitive subject matter that make it better suited for mature young readers; it would also work as a classroom or one-on-one read aloud. MacLachlan writes with a quiet cadence readers will savor, as the book alternates between the present and Teddy's life with Sylvan, with italics alerting readers to the shift in time. VERDICT Though this contemplative fantasy explores grief, it is also about overcoming loss and is resolved in a way that will comfort sensitive readers. A strong purchase for larger fiction collections.-Juliet Morefield, Multnomah County Library, OR

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
An unusual dog rescues two children from a storm.Teddy, an Irish wolfhound, has lived with Sylvan, a poet, in a rural cabin ever since his rescue from a shelter. Teddy learns human language, but Sylvan tells the dog only poets and children will understand when he speaks. When Sylvan sickens and dies, Teddy stays on at the cabin, and during a blizzard a few days later, Teddy finds two children, Flora, 8, and Nickel, 11, lost in the storm. (Oddly, the cover illustration shows the children as black-haired and brown-skinned, but in the text Nickel is described as having blond hair, implying whiteness.) Teddy leads the children to Sylvan's cabin, where they make it a cozy shelter. The narrative interweaves Teddy's remembrances of living with Sylvan with the present adventure. The three converse (Sylvan was right about that), and themes of being left and being rescued are explored as Teddy explains how Sylvan died and the children explain how they ended up alone outside in the blizzard. Thrumming throughout is the children's unexpressed worry of what will happen to Teddy when their parents retrieve them. This is resolved in the best way possible and could, in the hands of a less refined writer, have become pat. MacLachlan's treatment, however, is magical. A quiet, elegant, poignant story suffused with humor, heart, and goodness. (Fantasy. 6-12)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2016
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* I found the boy at dusk. So begins this love story, told by a dog. During a blizzard, siblings Nickle and Flora leave their car to find help. (Their mother has already gone for the same reason.) Irish wolfhound Teddy leads them to the cabin of Sylvan, a poet who once befriended him and became the only one who could understand Teddy's wordsuntil now. The children are not overly surprised that Teddy can talk; indeed, they are charmed. More pressing is figuring out how to keep themselves safe in the storm, because, as it becomes clear, Sylvan is no longer alive. Writing in a spare cadence that is perfectly precise, Newbery Medalist MacLachlan moves back and forth in time as Teddy remembers his days with the cranky but perceptive Sylvan and regathers his sense of stability as he makes new memories with Nickle and Flora. To be able to touch the deepest places of loss, hope, and love with a minimum of flair and fuss is a rare gift, and MacLachlan gently brings her readers to a place where the results of magical thinking are as real as life's trials. Near the book's end, Teddy reveals that before his death, Sylvan told him to watch for two jewels. Readers will find their own jewels in this gem of a book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)