A Dog for Life by L.S. Matthews

Son has to give a book report in front of his class. After deciding on the book "A Dog for Life" by L.S. Matthews we spent hours on the computer do some research. The book is about two brothers and their dog. When one of the boys gets very ill, their mother decides that "Mouse", the dog, needs to go to an animal shelter. Typical adult, she doesn't understand that her son NEEDS his dog to regain his health. The younger brother, John runs off with Mouse, trying to bring her half across England to his uncle, whom he has never really met. Knowing only the name of the village they have to reach and without much money, John and Mouse try to reach safety and thus save the sick brother at home. 

It is a great story, well written and of course, very fascinating for little, adventurous boys.

 

Son and I were trying to figure out the route John took but couldn't find any of the towns descibed in the book, however we stumbled upon the author's email address and son decided to write her an email. 

 

Two minutes after mailing it he went to check his email account for an answer. And five minutes after that he checked again. And again. After the fifth time I told him to stop it. Being very realistic I told him, that most adults, and authors in general, are very busy people and they normally don't reply to children. If they do, it will be a very short, polite answer with a reference to an interview they gave a few years back. And it will take some time. Like a month or so.

Son looked at me disapprovingly and said: "Fine. I will check my email account just one more time."

And there it was. The reply by the author. A very, very personal and lenghy one. One that answered all his questions. In detail. One that gave him advice. One that put a huge grin on his face.