Skip to main content

HOUND DOG TRUE by Linda Urban


copyright date: September 2011
primarily marketed for:  intermediate readers (9 and up)

Donalyn Miller, one of my hero teachers, wrote a review (on the Nerdy Book Club blog) of Hound Dog True by Linda Urban that made me feel I had to read this book.  The thing she said that was particularly convincing was this:

But have you ever read a book and loved it so much that you didn’t want to share it with anyone? As if the moment you told someone, the book would melt like a snowflake in a hot palm or wilt like a picked flower.

This is how I feel about Hound Dog True. Some books you read and some books read you and some books fit right under your ribs, so you can carry them with you.

I think that’s the kind of book everyone needs to read. 

Hound Dog True is the story of 5th grader Mattie Breen.  Mattie and her mom temporarily move in with her uncle so that they will be around to care for him while he has surgery on his knee in a few months.  Mattie is tired of moving.  Tired of being the new girl.  So she cooks up a plan to become her uncle’s apprentice.  He is the custodian at the elementary school.  She figures if she works with him during lunch and recess, she can avoid the most awkward moments of the day. 

So in the last few weeks of summer, she follows her uncle around and keeps track of all sorts of custodial wisdom in her notebook.  She used to use her notebook for writing stories, but then something happened to cause her to stop telling stories. 

Through an unlikely friendship, a traumatic accident, and some wise words from her principal, “You can’t have brave without scared,” Mattie learns to open up and tell her stories again.  She even has some hard talks and grows closer to her mother as a result. 

Hound Dog True is pure Linda Urban story magic.  It is a story for younger readers and older readers who are young at heart and who understand the power of story to impact lives.

Reading Threads:

Comments

  1. I'm in the middle of this, Christy, & so far, little has happened which makes me very nervous about everyone. Thanks for the review, & I also like the threads you're sharing-good to have a whole group to turn to. I haven't read the first one in the list, but all of the others I know are special.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did think this one was rather on the young side. It would be a really tough sell for an 8th grader.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TAKE WHAT YOU CAN CARRY by Kevin C. Pyle

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Despite the fact that the teacher in me sees so many lesson possibilities in Kevin C. Pyle’s graphic novel Take What You Can Carry , you should read it simply for the grace of its stories.   The artwork is as striking as the stories it tells.   Using artwork in two different colors and styles, Pyle tells the stories of two teenage boys living years and miles apart.   And yet, he communicates the universality in their experiences.   One boy is a Japanese American forced to move into an internment camp during WWII.   His family struggles to maintain their dignity and sense of peace under unbearable conditions. The other is a rebellious boy with an attitude whose reckless behavior causes him to wind up in trouble with the law.   To make amends, he finds himself completing community service hours in the most unlikely place.   I found my...

THE SEA IN WINTER by Christine Day

  release date: January 5, 2021 primarily marketed for: Middle grades The Sea in Winter  by Christine Day is a gift to its readers. It is a book of quiet strength with much to offer.  Maisie is a ballet dancer who feels most herself when she is at the dance studio. However, at the start of this story, Maisie is coping with a serious knee injury that prevents her from dancing long-term. She misses her friends from dance and struggles to maintain those connections when she is no longer part of the dancing life they shared.  When her mom and stepdad plan a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula to visit sites of familial and cultural significance, Maisie stubbornly overworks her healing knee. She is determined to heal and return to the studio  faster than expected. Although her knee is the only focus of Maisie's wellness journey, it turns out there is more to healing than physical fitness.  Maisie is a quietly compelling character, but I was surprised to find myse...

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF AIDAN S. (as told to his brother) by David Levithan

 copyright date: February 2, 2021 primarily marketed for: Middle Grades I devoured this one in a single sitting. The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother)  by David Levithan is the book I did not know I needed.  The story opens when Aidan S. has gone missing. His parents are distraught. His brother, Lucas, is beside himself. The town is pitching in to help search. As the days pass, the outcome looks more and more grim.  And then Aidan shows up in the attic, wearing the same pajamas he had on when he left, and everyone wants answers. Is he alright? Where was he? What made him disappear?  Although Aidan's story is the driving force behind this novel, it is really Lucas's story readers enter. When Aidan returns with an explanation beyond belief, Lucas is left to decide what really matters. Levithan hints at classic tales, but his perspective is uniquely fresh and inventive. Readers will be left thinking about what really makes a story true....