A review by roseleaf24
Along Came a Dog by Meindert DeJong

2.0

2.5 stars rounded down because of the high rating this book has overall. This book ended well and, at its bones, is a story of a friendship between a dog and a chicken. But in the first two chapters, a stray dog arrives at a farm, and the man drives it further out to the country to get rid of it. Twice. On the first day of spring, a chicken goes out into the barn yard. Her feet get stuck in mud and just come off because they'd frozen over the winter. The other chickens try to peck her to death because she's different. I won't spoil beyond what happens in the first two chapters, and I'm trying to leave room for the ways life was different sixty-five years ago, but this was pretty brutal and a challenge to read.