Summary Of The Novel 'The Dogs' By Allan Stratton

The novel I chose to read is The Dogs by Allan Stratton. In the novel, Stratton writes about a young boy named Cameron whose parents got divorced. After the divorce, the father stalks the family every time they move away. After a recent move, Cameron notices something strange in the basement of the new home they moved into; he finds a scrapbook of the McTavish family (the old owners of the house) and notices photos and strange notes in it. He decides to solve the McTavish mystery on the disappearance of their son Jacky McTavish. I enjoyed the novel very much because it was suspenseful and was very engagement. It kept me engaged in the plot. It was emotional at times because the author vividly described Cameron’s desire to see his father and

his frustration in not being able to. The reason I selected the novel is because the cover looked very appealing. This prompted me to read the back and the first page and I was hooked.
The first connection in the novel I was a text to world connection.

In the text, it states “I’m downstairs in the rec room playing zombie attack. No sound. I don’t want mom to know, although I’m pretty sure she guesses.” (p.1) I am sure every kid has had the experience of playing a banned game or engaging in an activity that they know they will get in trouble for. This is even further complicated for Cameron because his mother wants the volume low so people outside can not hear the game. The author paired a shared childhood experience with a scary situation very well. My next connection is a text to text connection about Cameron’s new home. Cameron says “something’s missing. A dishwasher. Seriously. Where’s the dishwasher?”. (p.13) This reminds me of the movie Inside Out when the main character’s family moves to a new home and the main character does not like it. The main character Riley did not like her house because it was empty. Both characters found reasons to be upset with their house that can be easily fixed. My next text to text connection was when the author described the cafeteria such as the announcements from the guidance counsellors, the smell of cafeteria food, and people yelling and talking. In the text it said “ I get on the bus and I take my place near the back, Cody’s gang barking me down the aisle”. (p. 40) This was similar to the description of the character’s experience in Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli. This is also similar to my own personal experience of getting onto a school bus full of over-excited classmates. This is probably a somewhat universal student

experience.
While reading I made many inferences. One inference I had that I was correct about was on page fifty-three when Cameron thought his home was haunted because of all the McTavish memories in the basement. I predicted that someone would be around him in his basement and when he turned around, he saw Mr. Sinclair (the owner of the house). Another inference I made was about Cameron’s friend Ken. Ken was acting suspiciously and said “too bad. Stop following me. I don’t want anyone to see us talking. It’s bad enough I sat beside you on the bus”. (p.206) This made me think either Ken is doing something behind Cameron’s back or Cameron is getting close to finding where Jacky died or if he even is dead. Later on, Cody takes Ken’s place and tries to solve the mystery with Cam however, Cody was mad at Cam and I inferred it was the same reason as Ken because Cam already solved the mystery and found Jacky actually did die but not in the house with his parents but somewhere else. Cody was furious and the story ended with Cam finding where Jacky died and him having no friends. Overall, The Dogs was a great novel. It was very engaging with lots of interesting events and great descriptions.