A Dog's Way Home

Starred review from January 31, 2011
In the tradition of The Incredible Journey and Lassie Come-Home comes a heartwarming, suspenseful tale of a dog's arduous 400-mile journey to find his 11-year-old owner, Abby. Tam, a champion sheltie, nearly loses his life on his way home from a competition when the truck he's in slides off the road and his crate is thrown into a creek. He manages to escape a watery death, but finding his way back to "his girl," who was hospitalized after the crash, proves physically exhausting and requires learning new survival skills. Meanwhile, Abby refuses to believe Tam is dead, even after weeks pass and her family pulls up stakes in Harmony Gap, N.C., to move to Nashville. Switching credibly between Abby and Tam's perspectives (in first- and third-person, respectively), Pyron (The Ring) draws parallels between the changes that each undergoes. Tension mounts as unforeseen obstacles make it seem as though dog and owner will never reunite, yet readers, like the story's heroes, aren't likely to give up hope. With vibrant, sympathetic characterizations, Pyron creates an inspiring portrayal of devotion and survival against all odds. Ages 8–12.

April 1, 2011

Gr 4-8-On their way home from an agility championship competition that Abby's Shetland sheepdog won, Abby and her mother are in an accident. Tam is thrown, cage and all, from the car into the river. The sixth grader and her mom are both in need of emergency medical help. No one is able to return to look for Tam until days later when there is no sign of him. In alternating chapters, Tam and Abby tell their stories. The dog's is one of harrowing hardship and dangerous circumstances, reminiscent of Sheila Burnford's The Incredible Journey (Little, Brown, 1961) as he attempts to travel hundreds of miles home to "his girl." Abby is experiencing the stress of moving and fitting in at a new school because of her dad's job, but her thoughts never stray from her beloved dog. Though months go by, Abby never gives up hope that somehow Tam will be found. This is encouraged by her grandmother, who has psychic visions of Tam trying to come home. Other mystical elements play well, such as a coyote that befriends the dog and later returns as an apparition to lead him along the correct route. There is a guardian crow, too, that protects Tam and is key in the story's finale. The alternating, brief chapters effectively help set the fast pace of the story. Though there may be too many near-death experiences for Tam, creating frustration rather than adding tension to the plot, the subject matter and page-turning intensity will hook animal lovers, including reluctant readers.-Tina Martin, Arlington Heights Memorial Library, IL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2011
Grades 4-7 Though there is no shortage of stories about the love and loyalty between humans and their four-footed friends, Pyron offers a fresh and inspired tale of 11-year-old Abby Whistler and her beloved Shetland sheepdog, Tam. During a long trip home from an agility contest, a car accident sends Tams kennel flying from the bed of Abbys truck and down a fast-moving creek, leaving him badly injured and alone and Abby in the hospital. So begins an epic account of the girls and dogs travails in their quest to be reunited. The narrative toggles between Abbys and Tams points of view, through their experiences with pain, danger, and aching loneliness for each other. Tams voice is so endearing and unquestioningly faithful that readers will find it tough not to flip to the final pages to find out how this heartfelt story ends. Hand this to fans of Phyllis Reynolds Naylors Shiloh (1991) and Kathi Appelts The Underneath (2008), and they will not be disappointed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
A car accident leaves Tam, a Shetland sheepdog, lost and injured in the Blue Ridge Mountains far from his home and beloved owner Abby. Alternating chapters present Tam and Abby's attempts to find each other over the next year. The Tam chapters are particularly well-crafted and highly engaging; too many subplots scatter focus in the Abby sections.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 15, 2011

Fans of the Lassie stories and The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford (1961), will lose themselves in this harrowing adventure. Abby and her Shetland sheepdog, Tam, have a deep, loving bond. When a car accident sends Tam careening out of the truck and lands Abby in the hospital, they spend the rest of the novel separated by hundreds of miles in winter, seeking one another. The tension rises, sometimes frustratingly so, as one distressing event after another keeps them apart. Devastated, Abby allows her dreams, visions known in her family as The Sight, to convince her that Tam is alive and working his way home. Meanwhile, Tam struggles in the hostile wilderness facing heartbreaking loneliness, starvation, animal attacks and harsh weather. Survival seems impossible, but he's helped along by occasional friendships, with both humans and other animals. Cutting between Abby's and Tam's perspectives, the short chapters keep up a fast-paced momentum. When it seems that neither Tam nor readers can withstand one more heart-piercing obstacle, Abby's true grit triumphs. This is an uplifting tale of devotion, perseverance and love beyond boundaries, and it's worth every taut word. (Adventure. 8- 12)

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