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Summary
Summary
A small boy, a cruel city, and the incredible dogs who save him
When Ivan's mother disappears, he's abandoned on the streets of Moscow, with little chance to make it through the harsh winter. But help comes in an unexpected form: Ivan is adopted by a pack of dogs, and the dogs quickly become more than just his street companions: They become his family. Soon Ivan, who used to love reading fairytales, is practically living in one, as he and his pack roam the city and countryside, using their wits to find food and shelter, dodging danger, begging for coins. But Ivan can't stay hidden from the world of people forever. When help is finally offered to him, will he be able to accept it? Will he even want to?
A heart-pounding tale of survival and a moving look at what makes us human.
Author Notes
Bobbie Pyron is the author of A Dog's Way Home , which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was named to the Spring 2011 Indie Next List. She works as a librarian in Park City, Utah.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
As she did in A Dog's Way Home (2011), Pyron delivers a reflective, hard-hitting story about the bond between child and dog-in this case, seven of them. Inspired by the real-life story of a boy who survived on the streets of Moscow in the mid-1990s, the novel exposes the plight of many homeless, orphaned Russian children after the fall of the Soviet Union. Mishka-abandoned at age five by an abusive man who lived with (and presumably killed) Mishka's mother-befriends a pack of bedraggled wild dogs; together, they beg and forage for food, sleep in metro stations, ride trains to stay warm, and avoid military personnel intent on capturing them. The book's emotional impact is immense; Mishka grapples with his identity as his memories of his mother gradually fade and he becomes increasingly feral. Though some scenes of Mishka and the dogs' trials can be a bit repetitive, their sameness underscores their unremitting and often heartbreaking battle to survive, day after day. Ages 10-14. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
"We've all lost our mothers, stupid," young Mishka Ivan Andreovich is informed by rat-faced Viktor, one of a group of homeless children subsisting in Moscow's train station. Ivan's grandmother, Babushka Ina, died; his mother has disappeared; and now he has no family. The Soviet Union has fallen, and with it went the safety net that might have saved the desperately poor. And so Ivan joins the thousands of abandoned children living on the streets of Moscow in the mid-1990s. When Ivan is adopted by a pack of feral dogs, he chooses to live with them instead, begging for food and sharing it with the dogs, who, in return, protect him from ruthless gangs and the harsh Russian winter. Ivan always remembers the book of fairy tales his mother used to read to him every night, and in Pyron's simple and elegant prose, Ivan's story becomes a modern fairy tale of orphans and dark woods and children who no longer know any safe paths to follow. Well-crafted sentences, lively dialogue, and a remarkable story line combine for an absorbing adventure tale that young readers will find irresistible. Based on the true experiences of then-four-year-old Ivan Mishukov, this is just one child's tale, representing the estimated 100 million street children worldwide (as discussed in the author's note). When a young boy finds his chances of survival better among a pack of feral dogs than among violent children, readers may well wonder what exactly it is that makes us human. dean schneider (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Set in Russia during the 1990s and loosely based on a true story, this absorbing novel tells of a vulnerable and suddenly homeless five-year-old boy. Ivan is taken in by a gang of children who beg and steal to survive, but soon he joins a pack of street dogs that become his surrogate family for the next two years. Foraging for food and protecting each other, they navigate the dangers of the city in winter and the forest in warmer weather. The opening pages of the first-person narrative, in which Ivan recalls the warmth of his early childhood with his mother and grandmother, provide insight into the emotional base that anchors him in the troubling, sometimes violent times to come. In the final chapters, the boy's experiences when authorities separate him from the dogs and attempt to integrate him into human society seem even more painful than his previous adaptation to loss, privation, and fear. The many vivid details of street life and the convincing portrayals of even minor characters help bring the story to life. A source bibliography is appended. Written with compassion as well as a grim, sometimes brutal realism, this novel offers a riveting story as well as material for reflection and discussion.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
How pets can help us through the most difficult times. ALMOST HOME By Joan Bauer. 264 pp. Viking. $16.99. (Middle grade; ages 10 and up) BUDDY By M. H. Herlong. 296 pp. Viking. $16.99. (Middle grade; ages 10 and up) THE DOGS OF WINTER By Bobbie Pyron. 312 pp. Arthur A. Levine Books. $16.99. (Middle grade; ages 10 to 14) AS any reader of middle-grade novels knows, it's a cruel, viciously uncertain world out there, and all too often the adults in a child's life are more a source of harm than help. Sometimes a child can trust no one but the loyal dog at his side. Together, they will survive and conquer. Three new books for children explore this timehonored theme: "Almost Home," by Joan Bauer; "Buddy," by M. H. Herlong; and "The Dogs of Winter," by Bobbie Pyron. All pursue similar premises: children on their own against hostile surroundings, with no one to rely on for trust, friendship and - in the most extreme moments - physical safety, other than their pets. While they are all retellings of the well-worn "boy and his dog" tale, young readers will find fresh drama and pathos to engage them in each of these stories. The best of them is "Almost Home," which skillfully tells the tale of precocious and street-smart Sugar Mae Cole. Born in the back seat of a Chevrolet, Sugar becomes a fairly typical sixth grader, growing up poor but stable with her single mother, Reba, in a small house that Sugar's grandfather helped them buy before his death. Sugar's deadbeat gambler father is such a nonpresence in her life that she calls him "Mr. Leeland." And her mother, while loving, is weak and broken, delusional that her former husband will return to rescue her. Sugar knows who the real grown-up is in this relationship. "It's not fair, but sometimes a kid has to act older than their age," she says. "You just pray hard to know what to do." The one pillar of stability is her teacher, Mr. Bennett, who encourages her to write poetry, and write it honestly. Sugar expresses in verse what she can't otherwise: that parents can sometimes be selfish and unworthy of a child's trust. But not even Mr. Bennett can protect her from what is to come. Sugar's mother has fallen behind on the mortgage payments, and her father has gambled away what little equity they had. Amid this tumult, a neighborhood girl shoves a puppy into Sugar's arms and urges her to take him or else the girl's father, who abuses the dog, will dump him at a shelter. Thus begins Sugar's descent into homelessness, with the emotionally damaged dog, Shush, at her side. Their journey takes them into shelters and parks, group homes and foster care, alongside her mother, who descends into deep depression and involuntary commitment. The central questions that will keep readers turning the pages of this searing story are: Will the broken Sugar find her way home, in both the physical and metaphorical sense, and will she heal and become whole again? In "Buddy," 12-year-old Tyrone, known as Li'l T, will grapple with similar questions, though the upheaval in his life is caused not by dysfunctional parents but by the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Li'l T lives in a strict but loving home in New Orleans. He desperately wants a puppy, but his parents cannot afford one. Then one Sunday as the family drives to church, a stray dog darts in front of their car and is struck. The boy nurses him back to health, and the two become inseparable. But when Katrina arrives, the family has no choice except to leave Buddy behind as they flee the city. Days turn into weeks and months, yet Li'l T never stops hoping or searching for his canine friend. He learns Buddy was rescued from the flooded home after the storm, but has no clue as to the dog's whereabouts. What makes "Buddy" memorable is not just the tale of a boy's fierce love for his dog but its harrowing portrayal of one of this nation's most traumatic natural disasters. From start to finish, "Buddy" is a testament to the human capacity to endure, to find hope in the sodden ruins of destroyed lives. There is tragedy here - death and displacement and depression, and readers will push forward not just to learn if and how the boy and his dog reunite but also if and how the family will survive. "The Dogs of Winter" is the least sophisticated of the three books, suffering from stilted dialogue and two-dimensional characters. But the story, inspired by news accounts, still packs plenty of punch. Parents should be warned that the subject matter is harsh. Five-year-old Ivan's mother is beaten to death by her alcoholic lover while the boy huddles in a closet. Ivan then finds himself on the streets, coatless (and eventually shoeless) in subzero temperatures, fending off thugs, addicts and predators of every stripe. He cannot trust the police or social workers, who simply want to eradicate the problem of street urchins. His only allies are the feral dogs that adopt him and, time and again, rush to his defense. At every turn, Ivan learns the same hard lesson: Human beings will hurt you. Only dogs can be trusted. Of course, the reader knows that the "love" of a dog isn't enough. Children need the love of parents and siblings and friends. The real question hanging over this dark story is whether the young dog boy will find that love and trust in the end. John Grogan is the author of "Marley & Me," the middle-grade book "Marley: A Dog Like No Other" and a series of illustrated children's books.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10-A relentless darkness underlies this riveting story of courage and determination. Told as a recollection of a five-year-old boy in Russia, the story follows Mishka Ivan Andreovich from his relatively comfortable and loving home with his mother and grandmother to the lonely and frightening life on the streets of Moscow in post-Soviet Russia. The early chapters offer a dramatic counterpoint to the tragedy following his grandmother's death and the destruction of his mother's spirits and will to go on. When she disappears, Ivan is left with her abusive lover, who mistreats him and eventually takes him to an orphanage. Ivan escapes, and the rest of the book focuses on his brutal, frightening, unpredictable life on the streets. His astonishing resilience grows from his determination to find his mother and stay out of an orphanage. He finds refuge of a sort with a small but wise group of children living in sewers and underground stations and then breaks away to survive with a band of wandering dogs. It becomes his family, and he and the dogs protect one another. His gentle, timid nature erodes as he develops street smarts, cunning, and unwavering bravery. This is a captivating, important story based on the life of Ivan Mishukov, a Russian boy who lived a similar adventure. The author's note and extensive bibliography offer further insight into the underlying problems faced by Ivan and other children in Russia and around the world. Eva Hornung's Dog Boy (Viking, 2010) was also inspired by Mishukov's early life.-Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
An orphaned boy in Russia survives as a member of a pack of dogs. Ivan is only 4 years old when he runs away to the streets of Moscow. At first, he is taken in by a scruffy group of children under one adult's control. They live in the subway stations, begging and stealing food. He soon befriends and is adopted by a small group of dogs and becomes one of them. They survive on the trains in the winter and in the forest during the summer. Ivan keeps a button belonging to his (probably dead) mother as a talisman and remembers the fairy tales she read to him. Increasingly, his time with the dogs provides nourishment for both his hungry belly and his soul. Threats are ever present in the form of police, gangs of teens and wild animals in the forest. Two years later he is captured, and after months of care, he regains his humanness. Pyron has based her story on magazine articles about a Russian feral child, one of hundreds of thousands whose lives were disrupted by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. She presents Ivan's story as a first-person narrative in beautifully composed writing enhanced by Ivan's visual acuity and depth of emotion. Terrifying, life-affirming and memorable. (author's note, bibliography) (Adventure. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
From The Dogs of Winter There was a hard day, a bitter cold day I sat huddled next to a steam grate in the sidewalk. The cold made my nose and eyes stream tears. I told myself they were not tears for my mother. They were not tears for the weeks it had been since I had slept in a bed and taken a bath. Perhaps it had been months or only days. I didn't know or care anymore. The tears were only for the cold. I bowed my head and rested it on my knees. Something warm pressed against me. Warm breath stroked my cheek. I lifted my head. There beside me stood a large brown and black dog. The dog sniffed my hair and ran his warm, wet nose across my cheek and ear. I held my breath. Did the dog think I was something to eat? Satisfied, the dog curled up at my feet next to the steam vent with a sigh and closed his eyes. We sat like that together, the dog and I. People rushed past us and around us and stepped over us. Coins dropped at my feet and in my hand. One coin, two coins. I smiled at the dog. I reached out and touched his shoulder. "You've brought me luck today," I said. He licked my fingers. I laughed. "I'm going to call you Lucky...." Excerpted from The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
