A Dog For Life

John and his brother Tom share the same dreams, so when Tom is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, John feels he must take some responsibility in making him better. When their mother insists that their beloved dog Mouse has to go to the dog pound to protect Tom from infection, John decides that he has to take drastic action. The brothers have a special relationship with their dog – all three can understand what the other is thinking, so John feels that by saving Mouse’s life, somehow he will be able to save Tom too. The only person who might help is their taciturn Uncle David whom they barely know and who lives way down South. So boy and dog embark on an adventure of both the traditional and modern kind. Without enough money and scarcely any notion of where the uncle lives, they begin their risky journey, meeting three very different, perhaps not entirely realistic families along the way. They rescue a little girl from drowning and three ponies and a Labrador from animal experimentation of the worst kind, and are in turn saved by a wonderful gypsy boy and his family.

It’s a story that will keep the reader involved until its satisfyingly happy ending: Uncle David agrees to keep the dog, Tom takes a turn for the better and an estranged family is re-united.