A review by rehtaehwashere
Dogtown by Katherine Applegate, Gennifer Choldenko

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 
  • What I liked: I loved how heartfelt this book is, and how Chance
    grew to love Metal Head throughout the book
    . I love how Chance and the other 'real dogs' were so bitter about robot dogs
    until they saw Metal Head help an autistic child become more confident, especially with reading, with the lesson that everyone has different skill sets to offer.
    I liked seeing the dogs backstories with their previous lives and how they ended up in the shelter, and the realism with struggling to get bigger dogs adopted.
    I love that Chance found her way home eventually.
  • What I disliked: That the shelter staff were displayed as disliking the animals in their care and that certain sections of the shelter were there to keep dogs out of sight of adopters and were significantly worse than the main areas of the shelter. I disliked that the author quoted the 'one human year is seven dog years' rule which has been disproved, and I disliked that Metal Head
    was depicted as the only robodog WORTH respecting because he was 'different than the others' which just gives bad vibes all around.
    I know it's simplistic because it's a children's book, but still. I also disliked the use of punishment for dogs - people who work with animals know very well that this doesn't actually work to teach them good behaviors and that shouldn't be a modality used in a shelter, fictional or otherwise. I hate that the owners didn't try harder to find Chance after she ran away and that they were never
    suspicious of that dog sitter, and clearly didn't vet her very well, either. Good pet owners know you don't leave your animals with just ANYONE, especially not someone jumping away from your pets affection, and they don't choose someone they don't know or someone last minute. Yikes.
  • Overall thoughts: Cute story overall, I loved the relationships between the dogs and how they all dream of finding homes. I do think the authors need to do a bit more research on what they're writing about overall, though. For children's books they could have simply avoid listing inaccurate numbers (the age 'rule' mentioned above) and they definitely could've given Chance the push to
    run away again without the punishment aspect which, again, is inappropriate. And they could've made Management not act so petty about it the first time Chance returns
    - it doesn't put shelters in a good light when the people working/volunteering there are depicted so poorly and shelters need all the support they can get. Authors really needed to be more careful with this, even in children's books.
  • Recommend to a friend? Maybe not - I work with animals and I don't like how shelters are depicted here even if the overall story is cute. 

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