Dogsong

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good book
Review: Dogsong was a nice book if you like the outdoors and hunting and stuff like that. I liked it. Russel Susskit is a young Inuit boy, who is out to find his song. After he learns the ways of the past from an elderly blind friend, named Oogruk, he ventures out to find his song. After encountering bears and blistering cold, he finally reaches his destination, but whether or not he finds his song I won't tell you. It is up to you to find out.

Rating:
Summary: dogsong sucks
Review: I hated this book because it was too slow and it is only about him riding his bike and i dont advise anybody reading this, my whole class hated it and so did my english teacher. So, he only gave us a 1 slide powerpoint on the book. When I read it the only reason I read it was becasue i had to.

Rating:
Summary: Good book!
Review: Dogsong is a Newberry Award winning novel about an Inuit boy who needs to discover his "song" or who he is. Russell lives in a small winter village and learns the old ways from Oogruk, a blind elder. Oogruk teaches Russell to hunt and to guide the dogs to travel. When it is Oogruk's time to stay on the ice, it is also Russell's time to take his journey and discover his song.

Along the way, a dream is interwoven with Russell's life. Life includes a hunt as does the dream, and both versions include death. In the dream, it is the death of the hunter's family and his dogs; in the dream it is the premature baby of an Inuit girl.

Although the story is beautiful and inspiring, I don't recommend it for a child who has a hard time hearing of the death of other children, no matter that most of the deaths were during the Stone Age. I read this out loud to my daughter and that night she awakened crying during the night. I had been unable to skim over the deaths of the children, but softened the blow for her by skimming over the dog deaths. This might be more appropriate for young teens than for pre-teens.