A Dogʼs Life: The Autobiography of a Stray (2005)

My nine-year-old daughter and I have been reading this book together. No sooner than the last words of the last page were out of my mouth she declared, "That was a very sad book, Dad. Let's read something happy next."

It is a well written book and we both enjoyed it. But for the most part it was way too sad for either of us. ( )

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A Dog's Life is a story about a stray dog named Squirrel. The book is an autobiography that describes the journey Squirrel takes learning how life works for a stray dog. Squirrel faces many challenges throughout the book, meeting different people and dogs along the way. Read to find out about the journey Squirrel takes and see if she can find a happy ending. ( )

To quote Yogi Berra, this is exactly the sort of thing you'll like, if you like this sort of thing.
It's hard to imagine any book in which the title serves more accurately as a description of the book as well. This is the autobiography of a dog, from puppyhood to old age. It's in the "Black Beauty" vein, an animal telling the story in first person narration, of all the eventful things that happened in her life.
There were two drawbacks for me. First, the narrator (whose name changes several times during the story depending on who, if anyone, owns her at the moment) tells the entire story, but there's minimal character development. Beyond being generally a "good dog" we don't get any real personality from her. And second, it is, well, a dog's life. Plot is loose, big gaps of time are skipped over if nothing much happens during them. As it is, She has a much more eventful life that I suspect the average dog does, going through several owners, and spending most of her life as a stray.
We got her whole life, but I was left wondering what the real point of it was. Did Squirrel (her original name given by her mother) grow and develop as a result of the many changes in her life... well, not really.
Kids who are obsessed with dogs will probably love this book, as my daughter did. But for those looking for strong characters, intriguing interactions between characters, fascinating supporting cast and great plot twists... pass this one over and look elsewhere. ( )

"Si chinò per accarezzarmi. Fece scorrere la mano lungo la schiena e poi sotto al mento. 'Ogni cane dovrebbe iniziare la giornata con una bella grattatina sotto al mento' dichiarò."

Un libro bellissimo, pensato per bambini ma anche per adulti. Un racconto semplice, romanzato e avventuroso scritto dal punto di vista di una cagnolina randagia, Squirrel, che narra le vicende della sua famiglia e degli amici e nemici cani e umani incontrati nel suo girovagare per città e campagne.
Una storia non strappalacrime o melensa, emozionante al punto giusto e mai noiosa. Un libro veloce che si legge in una sera e che, a parere mio, dovrebbe essere letto a scuola per far capire ai bambini quanto può essere difficile e pauroso essere un cane randagio e quanto sia indispensabile il rispetto e l'amore verso gli animali.
Durante la lettura coccolavo la mia cagnolina e immaginavo come fosse la sua vita prima di incontrare me, sicuramente non avventurosa come quella di Squirrel :)
Quanto siamo state fortunate a incontrarci! ( )