"Be strong. Be fierce. Life is more than a concrete floor"
The Way of Dog is a verse novel written by Zana Fraillon, who is the award-winning author of The Bone Sparrow. In this book, Scruffity begins his life in a puppy farm, a world of cages and concrete. With the help of a lonely boy, Scruffity is set free and finally gets to experience the wider world with his new friend. But the outside world can be cruel and when his liberator suffers an accident, Scruffity must learn to make it on his own. He encounters many more people and animals – some friendly, some kind and some who are downright horrible. Whilst on his adventure, Scruffity learns all about The Way of Dog – how to run, dig, howl and ultimately, how to love.
I have only read a few verse novels, but the ones that I have read have been wonderful. Fraillon’s verse can be raw, but it was also very absorbing. She makes clever use of devices such as changing the direction and size of the text to vary the pace of reading, create tension and evoke emotions. I often found myself reading the book aloud because it was so lyrical.
The narrative is written from Scruffity’s point of view, which is very believable. His unique vocabulary is delightful – from the names he gives different humans and animals (such as ManPup, Shoe-Legs and ScratchCat) to the words he uses to describe his own senses (‘schnuffle’ for smell and ‘sound-snatch’ for hear). I could imagine my own dogs using similar language to describe the world around them. I often laughed out loud at Scruffity’s antics and marvelled at how well Fraillon described seemingly annoying dog behaviours, for example how he needed to roll in a ‘present’ - a dead bird - for luck and how he simply had to sniff each town lamppost because they held ‘a million messages’. Exploring the world through a dog’s eyes really did provide a new and interesting way of seeing things. Illustrations by Sean Buckingham accompany Fraillon’s text and do a great job of representing Scruffity’s world.
The Way of Dog was such a treat to read and review. It was both heartbreaking and heart-warming in equal amounts but filled with strength, bravery and hope. Like Fraillon, I believe that dogs can teach us many life lessons – like slowing down, appreciating the small, simple things, and trying to engage all our senses. Although this book is targeted towards upper primary readers, I enjoyed it very much and think it would be loved by adults and children alike, and especially by anyone who has had an animal choose them as their human.
Natalie
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