This one won a Newbery Honor. I wasn’t all that psyched to read it, but I had heard good things abut, so I gave it a shot. It was really very well written. It is told from the point of view of Squirrel, one of two who survived a litter of a stray dog. Squirrel and her brother Bone spend their early years fairly comfortable in a shed of a country house, but one day Mother leaves the shed and does not return. Bone and Squirrel fend for themselves for a while, but also eventually leave the property. They learn to hunt, and where the best garbage piles are, and are eventually separated. Squirrel spends her next 6 or so years living off garbage piles, her own hunting skills, and sometimes living with humans. This book made me want a dog. The writing really emanated a dog personality. I don’t know what else to say about it, but it was very good.
A Dog’s Life: the autobiography of a stray by Ann M. Martin
