The Dogs of Winter

The Dogs of Winter

By Bobbie Pyron

312 pages, middle grade

Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic) 2012

 

When Ivan’s mother disappears, he ends up on the streets of Moscow. It’s winter – deep, dark, bitter cold – and all he’s got to keep him warm is his coat, a hat, his Famous Basketball Player shoes, and the memory of his mother.

Ivan falls in with a tribe of street children and is put to stealing and begging by the gang’s leader. It’s a harsh life, made worse by the cruelty humans inflict on each other. The dogs treat each other better, Ivan thinks. So when a twist of fate lands him in the middle of the dog pack, he becomes one of them. For two years he and his adopted canine family roam the landscape, using their wits to find food and shelter.

Ivan and his pack discover a greenhouse that makes a perfect winter home. In the summer they run through the forest, hunting or, when needed, collecting food from the dumpster behind an amusement park.

This is a story of survival. It’s a story that examines the things that make us human. It’s also based on a true story, and masterfully written by Bobbie Pyron who, it just happens, lives with her own pack of dogs. Bobbie was gracious enough to answer Three Questions:

Sally’s Bookshelf: So, Bobbie, how did you come to write this book?

 Bobbie: In 2005, I read an article in Best Friends magazine. (Best Friends is a huge, no-kill animal sanctuary in southern Utah). The article was about feral children – children who supposedly have been raised by animals. I’ve always been fascinated by this idea, possibly because I’ve always felt more canine than primate. That article, Bobbie explains, opened with the story of a four-year-old Russian boy, Ivan Mishukov…. The boy who becomes the main character in Dogs of Winter.

Bobbie:  I was absolutely riveted by his story and found myself wanting to know more. Why were there tens of thousands of children living homeless on the streets, particularly one as young as four? How did Ivan survive the cold and the lack of food? How did he and the dogs live day to day? And what happened to Ivan after he was taken from the dogs two years later? The more I thought about Ivan’s story with the dogs, the more I felt I had to write it, but as fiction.

SB: It looks like you did a tremendous amount of research – there’s a 3-page bibliography at the end of the book. And the details are so vivid. Did you travel to Russia to visit the places you wrote about?

Bobbie: I’m a librarian, so research is in my blood and bones. First, I started searching on line for anything I could find on Ivan Mishukov. I also realized I need to know more about the socio-economic conditions in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union – I needed to understand why there were, by some estimates, close to a million homeless children and teens living on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. And of course, there were the street dogs of Moscow. How did they live? Again, there was a surprising amount of information on that, even YouTube videos showing them using the subway system! But I never did visit Russia, and that made me very nervous because “place” is very important to me when I write. I was also very fortunate to come across an award-winning documentary, The Children of Leningratsky made around 2003, which followed a group of homeless children in Moscow over a year.

SB: You have a soft spot in your heart for dogs, and in your blog when you do author interviews, you focus on their relationship to their dogs. Tell me about this connection - how it connects with your life.

Bobbie: I was born and raised in the South, and we southerners have very strong connections to our dogs. Dogs were always a part of everything my family did, and as a shy child, my best friends were dogs. That is still true today. (Bobbie has three dogs: two rescued Shetland Sheepdogs and a rescued coyote mix) I love how “in the moment” they are; I love watching the dynamics between them.  I love just being in the company of dogs. They offer us trust, unconditional love, and a guilelessness that is in short supply these days. They have a way of bringing out the best in us, perhaps because we want to be the person they trust that we are. I think that’s why the authors I interview – many of whom don’t usually do interviews – love the chance to just talk about their dogs. 

This is part of the Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday round-up. Check out more great reading here. Review copy from publisher.

The Passover Lamb

The Passover Lamb

By Linda Elovitz Marshall; illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss

32 pages, ages 6 - 9

Random House 2013

 

As Miriam scatters chicken feed and gathers eggs, she practices chanting the questions she’ll ask tonight at Grandma’s house. “Ma nishtana ha-laila ha-zeh…? Why is this night different from all other nights?

Of course, this is the day Snowball has her lambs – triplets. She won’t nurse the smallest, so Miriam fills a bottle with special milk for newborns and feeds the hungry lamb. But newborns need to be fed every four hours - how can they go to seder?

Miriam wants to take part in the Passover meal where they retell the story of how the Jews were slaves in Egypt. And how one mother hid her baby, Moses, in a basket to….

“Hey!” she says, “I know what to do!”

Linda Marshall’s story is inspired by an actual event that happened on her farm – when her children took a newborn lamb along with them to seder. I was lucky enough to get Linda to answer Three Questions about her book.

Sally’s Bookshelf: Did you carry him in a basket?

Linda: It happened a long time ago, but as I recall, we didn’t use a basket. Instead, the lamb sat on my kids’ laps or under the table where he nibbled our toes as we told the stories. My kids named him “Moses” as a gentle joke. And lamb nibbles? They feel soft and furry...and tickley.

SB: Your books focus on Jewish themes. Why?

Linda: Not all of my books focus on Jewish themes. But it’s only recently that I began writing for children and, as it’s turned out, the books that have been published so far have Jewish themes. My stories, though,  are inspired by many things - from farm life to word-plays to everyday mysteries like vacuum cleaners.

SB: The inspiration for many of your stories comes from relatives or family stories. How do you craft universal stories from these - what sort of process do you go through?

Linda: This is a great question; thank you for asking. I think everyone has a different process for this, so I'll tell you what I try to do – even though it doesn’t always work. First, I think about what actually happened. Then, I ask myself what story do I want to tell? How can adapt (or invent) story elements to build tension? Then I start writing.  For me, the first draft is the hardest part because I'm literally making “something from nothing.” When the first draft is finally written, I let it “simmer” in my subconscious....That’s when I ponder what I call the “deep structure” of the story – the thing that makes it universal. How does this particular vignette speak to the human heart? The answers generally come while I'm driving or swimming or in the shower. They don't come while I’m consciously thinking about the story! When I finally understand my story’s deep structure, I try to put it in context with other literature with a similar deep structure so I can learn from what came before. And, if I can do that, I often have a much stronger story. It’s a complicated process for what seems simple: a picture book – and that’s only the beginning of the process.

Review copy from publisher.

NF Monday - Women in History: Phillis Wheatley

Welcome to Nonfiction Monday, a round-up of cool books readers are reading and bloggers are reviewing. Check below for links to reviews.

As for me, I'm continuing my celebration of Women's History month and women writers. Today, a look at a young poet who, despite all odds, discovered her strong voice.

A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet

By Kathryn Lasky; illus by Paul Lee

40 pages, ages 8 – 12

Candlewick Press 2003

“At first there was blackness. Complete blackness. Then the blackness dissolved into darkness, and the world in the creaking hold of the slave ship slid with shadows…” So Kathryn Lasky introduces us to a seven-year old slave without a name until she is sold to the Wheatley family in Boston in 1761.

“We’ll call her Phillis,” says Susannah Wheatley, naming the slip of a girl after the ship in whose hold she’d traveled. It turned out that Phillis has a passion for learning, and her owners encouraged her to read, write, learn Latin, Greek, geography, math. But what Phillis loved best was poetry; so she wrote.

She documented the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre … the tumultuous beginnings of a country seeking independence. She read her poetry in fancy parlors for teas, traveled abroad, gained freedom and, in 1774, saw her book of poetry published. But most importantly, she reclaimed something that had been taken away from her and slaves everywhere: a voice of her own.

This book is sure to inspire young writers looking for a voice of their own. It's also perfect for Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday - where you'll find other books for the mid-grade age, both fiction and non. Review copy provided by publisher.

 

Nonfiction Monday Roundup

Leave a comment; I'll check throughout the day & post links:

 Over at True Tales & Cherry on Top, Jeanne reviews Emily & Carlo.

At NC Teacher Stuff, Jeff reviews Ocean Counting.

Tara at a Teaching Life reviews Master George's People.

 Laura Purdie Salas posted a review of Too Hot? Too Cold?

Mary Ann celebrates Women's History with Annie and Helen at Great Kids Books.

Loree Burns reviews Ocean Sunlight.

Over at Kidlit Celebrates, Alexandra celebrates women in history with a collection of nonfiction addressing the question of what made them who they became?

Ms Yingling is reading ICE.

Check out Mrs Harkness and the Panda over at Perogies & Gyoza.

 Ami's posted three great picture books on black history over at A Mom's Spare Time.

Jennifer is ready for spring with a review of It's Our Garden at Jean Little Library.

Tammy posted three books about forensic science at Apples with Many Seeds.

Over at All About the Books, Janet's reviewed Cars on Mars.

Got kids interested in their rights? Guide them to A Kid's Guide to America's Bill of Rights at Liz's kid lit about politics site

Lynn and Cindy review The Price of Freedom over at their blog, Bookends.

Check out nature's Zombie Makers over at Proseandkahn .

Stacking Books reviews Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest.

Last-minute addition:  Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, reviewed at Challenging the Bookworm