I'm still not buying a dog...for now.

If you have ever loved a dog, Gary Paulsen’s My Life inDog Years will make you cry. If, like me, you’ve refused to buy your two young daughters a dog until they are older, with the secret hope that they’ll forget about the whole thing eventually, this book will keep you awake nights, whispering in your ear that you are a terrible father.

Dogs helped shepherd Gary Paulsen through a rough and isolating childhood, and accompanied him in his adventures as an extreme outdoorsman. In this memoir, each chapter tells the story of a different part of Paulsen’s life and the close relationship he held with a dog that helped him through.

When Paulsen was a teenager, he labored on a farm to feed and clothe himself, and took an interest in a border collie who worked the farm with an intelligence and diligence that rivaled that of the best farmhand. In what was one of my favorite chapters in the book, Paulsen recounts a day when, his field work was rained out, he observed the dog herding cattle, inspecting fences, and guarding small children from the dangers of a farmyard.

The book is a page turner and fascinating, which is to say that it is probably a great choice for struggling readers, since the text is accessible to a student as young as a 4^th grader but would captivate an older secondary student.

A teen girl's view of the cultural revolution

At the end of the Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-li Jiang, I wondered why there was not more mention of the red scarf, but that was the least of my concerns.

The story is Jiang’s memoir detailing her family’s persecution for their relative prosperity during China’s cultural revolution. Throughout, the author gives very little background about the political climate of the time, choosing instead a narrative perspective trained on her reaction to the turbulent political upheaval during her early teens. The effect is an interesting story, but I definitely felt that more historical background would have added to the story.

One of the big changes for Jiang during the time was her treatment as a top student. Prior to the cultural revolution, she was a top student headed for an elite middle school. Under the oppressive thumb of Chairman Mao, schools closed to reorganize to promote political indoctrination rather than academic achievement, and Jiang stayed at her neighborhood school and endured questioning about her family’s affluence.

Although the story kept my interest throughout, Jiang’s narration seems too even throughout,  the story of the physical persecution of her grandmother gets the same treatment as the story of her peers gossiping about how she received preferential treatment from the teacher.

In the end, I wonder if a student reading this without knowing the historical context would be puzzled throughout. Ideally, a teacher might explain communism and the basics of the cultural revolution so a kid doesn’t think this is sci-fi or something, since Jiang leaves a lot to the reader.