Notes From the Dog by Gary Paulsen
Can you think of someone that has had a huge positive effect on your life? This person doesn’t need to be a parent or a teacher. It may be a friend or another relative or even just someone in the community. Or, maybe, you haven’t met this person yet.
I can think of a number of people who have positively affected my life in a most meaningful way. For me, the first person is my godmother who passed away from cancer a few years ago.
For Finn, the narrator of “Notes from the Dog” by Gary Paulsen, that person is Johanna. Johanna is also fighting cancer, but moves into the house next door to Finn’s for a summer house-sitting job. Finn is a self-proclaimed loser. Johanna hires Finn to building a garden in his backyard. While Finn has difficulty growing the garden (which offers a humorous aspect to the book), Johanna helps Finn to blossom from a boy who plans to spend the summer avoiding people to a teenager who enjoys being part of a growing family and community. In part, this is accomplished through notes from the dog.
Who Should Read this Book: This book is for anyone who has been affected by cancer. Johanna has a fighting spirit that’s inspirational. However, Lincoln Middle School (LMS) students who haven’t been affected by cancer will also relate to Finn. LMS students, working on their “Who Am I?” project or completing their 8th grade community service hours, will meet a character who accomplishes some wonderful community work and reaps the intrinsic benefits.
**********************************************
Learn more about the author, Gary Paulsen, at http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/index.html
At the back of the book, the author provides the following links so that readers may learn more about cancer:
No comments:
Post a Comment