"We grow up seven times faster than they do, and that's what makes it difficult," says the street-wise Hyena to the scruffy and mostly unloved Dog in Pennac's (Eye of the Wolf
) bitter pill of a tale. Dog's story unfolds through a lengthy flashback, in which his life on the streets grows even tougher when a freak accident kills his adopted mother. Dog roams the town looking for a new owner, and ends up being taken in by a family on vacation, consisting of a shrill mother and a bombastic father (Mrs. Squeak and Mr. Muscle, as Dog affectionately names them). Dog, however, falls in love with the daughter, whom he calls Plum (because of how she smells when he meets her). The girl breaks his heart by ignoring him once they return to her home in the city. Hyena turns out to be the book's font of wisdom ("The problem with life is that even when it seems the same, it's changing all the time," he later expounds), even if that wisdom is often cynical. The finale contains a bizarre revenge sequence, which is never fully reconciled with the story as a whole, and its inclusion seems mean-spirited. Ages 8-up. (Feb.)
