The Green Dog by Suzanne Fisher Staples (2003, Reinforced Hardcover)

Childhood memories are colorfully written through the adult author’s present-tense recollection. Perhaps intended to be read by 5th graders, it captivated me (in my 60’s!) and I couldn’t put it down. An easy read … an especially word-perfect and descriptive one. I found myself rereading paragraphs and pages because they were so realistically written … I wanted to again experience the words that made me see and hear and be touched by the author’s “in the moment” passages. I could feel myself happily fishing, collecting little critters, exploring the woods, and daydreaming of having a puppy come true.

A quoted sampling:
----- I reach the creek (which we pronounce “crick”) that bounces in silvery riffles over rocks and fallen tree limbs down to the lake. I turn upstream toward the pond, where a week ago I found frog’s eggs. They looked like a black-speckled mass of jelly suspended among the stalks of cattails in a shallow area along the shore of the pond. I went back every day after school to watch them develop. When I returned to the pond the day before the last day of school, they hadn’t hatched yet.
----- Now I find several tadpoles swimming among the stalks in the shallow water. They look like tiny black minnows. When my shadow falls on them, they flick their tails and make little plips in the water. As I watch, several more wriggle out of their egg casings. They shake until they’re free of the jelly mass that holds the eggs, and continue to wiggle joyously as they swim into the sunlight.
-----I think I know how those tadpoles feel, because I feel pretty much the same way the first day after the last day of school, filled with the prospect of an endless summer of golden days with my new dog.

This book is a good blend of happy, sad-but-with-humor tale. It brought back memories of when I was a young kid with the ups and downs that come with the maturing during a significant summer. Unlike Suzanne’s upbeat ending, when I was approx Suzanne’s age in a 1950’s summer, my father took my dog to the country, let him out, and drove away … with my face pressed against the back window, crying and screaming, “Dad, you forgot Skippy!” I’ll never forget the look on Skippy’s face watching me as my father sped away, and to this day I carry that image and the hurt.

From DJ: Suzanne Fisher Staples’ heartwarming and funny story taken from her childhood will remind readers of all ages what it’s like to wish for something so hard --- and to love something so completely --- it makes your heart ache.