Mutt Dog by Stephen Michael King

April 19th, 2007

In the city lived a dog who belongs to no-one. He had to be brave, and fast, and smart just to survive. He ate whatever he could find. And looked for a new place to sleep every night.

One night the dog walks into a halfway house where there were people just like him, cold, tired, hungry. The dog meeds a lady in the halfway house who takes a liking to him, makes him a bed and gives him a cookie to eat and sends him on his way the next morning. Mutt dog goes about his daily routine all alone again until he hears a voice calling out to him in the city, could this be someone who wants to take him home?

I loved this book, the illustrations are quite cool, it’s almost like I know the dog they’ve written about, in-fact when I get a dog I’ll be pinching one of the names they use in the book. Lovely book about a dog on the streets, who against the odds has enough smarts to survive, keep warm, be fed and meet people who love him.

Themes:

Friendship, Survival, Lonliness, Dogs, Second Chances, Compassion, Love, Healing.

I’ve read this story alongside the story of the Syrophoenician Woman, and have written a piece on it before titled “The Thing About Dogs”

Book Information:
Author: Stephen Michael King
Illustrated by: Stephen Michael King
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Date Published: 31/10/2004
ISBN: 9781865046365
Purchase from Angus & Robertson: Mutt dog