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A review by katykelly
The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble
4.0
Child's-eye-view of Australian lawlessness in times of biological devastation.
About the youngest dystopia tale I've come across, a story of a changed world and a population struggling to cope with change, narrated by a young girl caught up in it all. Ella, her brother Emery and Dad are waiting for Mum to return to them from her important work, before they can escape the city for somewhere safer and with more prospect of food.
A fungus has killed off grass worldwide, resulting in a chain reaction that has also affected other crops, animal species and of course, humans. Their city is running low on supplies and when Dad disappears searching for Ella's mum, she and Emery must take their large sled-dogs and mush their way to safety. If they can.
It's a scary prospect, as a parent reading the synopsis, and I can only imagine how a young reader would see this. Knowing the desperation that you would feel in these circumstances, you might expect a lot more danger and obstacles to be put in their way, but though they exist, Ella and Emery seem to manage to make it through problems with less damage than I was expecting.
Ella takes charge when Emery is injured, and rises to the task. Her dogs are characters in their own right, though I would have liked more of that. Ella's voice is a convincing one, you can hear the Australian pre-teen in her narration, her hope and determination alongside the worries.
A little too convenient in places, but a fairly sound portrait of a world ravaged, though sanitised a little for the target market.
A message to a generation to take care of the world and to plan ahead for the future. Could make an excellent mini-series. One for ages 10-14.
About the youngest dystopia tale I've come across, a story of a changed world and a population struggling to cope with change, narrated by a young girl caught up in it all. Ella, her brother Emery and Dad are waiting for Mum to return to them from her important work, before they can escape the city for somewhere safer and with more prospect of food.
A fungus has killed off grass worldwide, resulting in a chain reaction that has also affected other crops, animal species and of course, humans. Their city is running low on supplies and when Dad disappears searching for Ella's mum, she and Emery must take their large sled-dogs and mush their way to safety. If they can.
It's a scary prospect, as a parent reading the synopsis, and I can only imagine how a young reader would see this. Knowing the desperation that you would feel in these circumstances, you might expect a lot more danger and obstacles to be put in their way, but though they exist, Ella and Emery seem to manage to make it through problems with less damage than I was expecting.
Ella takes charge when Emery is injured, and rises to the task. Her dogs are characters in their own right, though I would have liked more of that. Ella's voice is a convincing one, you can hear the Australian pre-teen in her narration, her hope and determination alongside the worries.
A little too convenient in places, but a fairly sound portrait of a world ravaged, though sanitised a little for the target market.
A message to a generation to take care of the world and to plan ahead for the future. Could make an excellent mini-series. One for ages 10-14.