Answers to Dog

By Pete Hautman. Candlewick Press, 2024. 240 pages. $18.99/hardcover; $9.99/paperback or eBook. Recommended for ages 9–12.

Answers to Dog is on one level a formulaic story about a boy and a dog. A deeper dive, however, reveals that it’s really about right relationships across genders, generations, socioeconomic backgrounds, and even species.

There is a direct allusion to Quakerism, although it’s not a focus: Evan’s generally discontented mother attends a Friends meeting, the one place she can go “and not be judged for her silence.” She has dragged her son along a couple times, but he finds it boring: a bunch of old folks just sitting there, looking like they might be asleep.

The story line is standard. Lonely boy meets mistreated dog who has no known name (he “answers to dog”); they bond; they have both sedate and scary adventures; they grow, causing others to grow; and everybody lives happily ever after. But it is the transformations and how they come about that give this book its special value. An outwardly Type A sports coach proves to have a soft spot; the hard-bitten co-owner of a struggling kennel demonstrates a conscience; a father absorbed by his career finally opens his eyes; and kids with physical and behavioral differences look past those differences and come closer. Evan begins to understand what motivates his parents’ remoteness; his mother’s turnaround may be motivated by her Quaker principles; and, in the end, “Dog,” an extremely energetic border collie who turns out to have a name after all, brings the family together.

Despite some concerns like advanced words for fourth through seventh graders to hurdle (“alopecia”) and some stereotypical characters, Answers to Dog has a lot to offer its intended audience. I recommend reading it with the young Friends in your life, perhaps as a Junior Gathering book club pick, for its good lessons about openness, mutual understanding, overcoming differences, caring, and hope.

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Neal Burdick is a member of St. Lawrence Valley (N.Y.) Meeting, under the care of Ottawa (Ont.) Meeting, and an attender at Burlington (Vt.) Meeting. He and his wife, Barbara, have enjoyed the company of nine dogs over their lifetimes.