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Straydog
 
 
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Straydog [Mass Market Paperback]

Kathe Koja (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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"What do you do when you're too smart for the freaks, but too much of a freak for the smart kids?" This is the question Rachel asks herself daily as she walks down the halls of her high school observing the strange rituals of the "TV Girls," "People from Planet Mensa," and the "Net Jockeys." Rachel couldn't care less that she doesn't fit in. As far as she's concerned, the only things she needs to survive are her volunteer work at the local animal shelter and her writing. Until she meets the feral collie she christens Grrl. To others at the shelter, Grrl seems completely untamable. But Rachel sees her own fury and frustration mirrored in the dog's deep brown eyes, and she is determined to domesticate Grrl. Inspired by the outlaw dog, Rachel's writing takes off, and she is even coaxed into sharing it with "Griffin Lost Boy," another creative loner like herself. But giving her story a happy ending and providing one for Grrl in real life are two totally different things, and no matter how strong Rachel thinks she is, she may not be strong enough to handle the truth about Grrl.

Weighing in at just over one hundred pages, this slim tome nevertheless packs a powerful emotional wallop. While angry, abused Grrl may seem like an obvious metaphor for the angry adolescent experience, author Kathe Koja's short, choppy sentences where both girl and Grrl snarl and snap at the world are well executed and inventive. Take this Straydog home from the pound immediately. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Koja (Extremities), the author of novels for adults, enters the YA realm with a solid if sometimes familiar tale of a high school misfit: "What do you do when you're too smart for the freaks, but too much of a freak for the smart kids? when there's no table in the lunchroom for the ones like you?" For Rachel, the answer is to wear her anger on her sleeve anger at her parents, at her shallow classmates, and at a world whose expectations seem so superficial and to isolate herself. She takes solace in her writing and in her volunteer job at an animal shelter, where she feels an instant kinship with a feral collie ("Why should I trade who I am for who they want me to be? So they can pat me on the head and put me in the normal-girl box? I'd rather be alone. I'd rather be a wild dog than jammed in someone's cage"). She hatches ill-advised plans to save the dog, whom she makes into the narrator of her essay-in-progress, "straydog" (passages are strategically interspersed). A number of elements are well-worn: the encouraging English teacher; the new boy who is a loner yet seems remarkably adept socially; the writing contest that validates Rachel's talent. Yet the protagonist, for all her alienation, proves both compelling and sympathetic. In telling her story, Koja plumbs not only Rachel's dark and darkly funny psyche, but also what it means to be human and to make connections of love and trust. Ages 12-up. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
Rachel. Raychel. Raechel. Black spider ink in a preppy-green notebook, my right arm aching on the slope of the desk. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars 132+, Oct 21 2003
This review is from: Straydog (Hardcover)
I thought this book was very well written. It is about this girl who is angry and feels trapped, and with no friends at all. She then befriends a collie mix at the animal shelter were she works. But the dog is feral and she has to try and teach the dog (which she named Grrl, sort of like a growl or the way she is feeling)to trust again, but in doing so she has broken out of her own cage and looks at the world and the people in it a different way. It is a very touching story about trust, faith, and courage. Showing the reader to belive and keep going, no matter how over grown the path or how the way may seem flodded or untouchable, that some day it will all come together and the sun will come shining through to reveal a a kinder much better way through the twisted and some what scary path of life. Keep believing don't hide who you are, because your true character will be found. I hope that people who enjoy a good book and likes these stories will pick this up and read it.

Oh and if you are wondering why my title is the way it is, because my cat had stepped on the keyboard and so that came up, I don't know how but it has meaning to it. Thank you.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, Oct 20 2003
This review is from: Straydog (Hardcover)
Straydog is a great book if you need to have a quick read. I enjoyed it the whole way i was reading it. I recomend it to poeple that are animals lovers and maybe work or help out at an animal shelter. The book can inspire someone to maybe save a animals life at the shelter or off the street. This book is a great book and i loved it the whole way. It is sad, inserational, and happy all at the same time!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, Oct 20 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Straydog (Hardcover)
Straydog is a great read and it was a fun and quick read. I loved and also enjoyed it all the way through it. I recomend it to poeple that love animals and also maybe help out at shelters with animals. Myabe this book might also save an animals life in somehow. It might inspire someone. This book was great!
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