April 21st, 2010
Sam S. 1-2
Dear Ms. Monaco,
I recently finished reading the book Listen by Stephanie S. Tolan. I rated this book ten out of ten stars because I really connected to it because I am an animal lover. This book was very powerful because it showed how Charley, the main character of this story, was changed from the inside out by the wild dog she found, Coyote.
This book reminded me of The Leaning Dog by K.A. Nuzum. These two books seemed similar to me because of how the dogs both seemed to change the main characters from the inside out. In The Leaning Dog the main character, whose name is never mentioned in the book, was afraid to step off the front porch since her mother had died a couple months before by being frozen to death. When she found the dog, she formed a bond with it and pretty soon she was brave enough to venture off the porch to save the dog. In Listen Charley has put up many walls since her mother died and since she was in a car crash that caused her to lose some mobility in her leg. Once Coyote comes into her life, she starts going on walks to bond with Coyote and she starts to break down her walls in order to love Coyote as best as she can.
The character development in this book is absolutely amazing. The ways Charley changes are quite amazing, she goes from being sad and bitter to happy and loving all because she met Coyote and spent more 69 days training him and bonding with him. In the beginning of the book Charley refuses to look at any of her mother's photos after her mom died in a plane crash on her way to Brazil, but in the end Charley is putting the photos back up and looking through the books that her mother had made. Sarita, Charley's nanny also had some character development in this book. At the beginning Sarita seemed quiet and guarded, but at the end she opens up to Charley and tells her that she her son got in a motorcycle accident and slipped into a coma that he never woke up from.
The genre of this book I would say was somewhere along the lines of a sci-fi novel or a fantasy novel because of how Charley is able to enter Coyote’s mind and feel what he feels. This comes in handy when Coyote goes missing for a few days, when Charley enters his mind she sees that he was hit by a car and was aimlessly wandering the woods. When she calls Coyote in her mind, he hears her and comes home, much to her relief, relatively unharmed. I really like this twist in the book because it kind of emphasized the bonds between humans and their pets.
The main character in this book was perfect for this role. I really liked how Charley added funny little parts to the story to make it more interesting to the reader, instead of calling her physical therapist, Tony, a physical therapist, she called him her own personal physical terrorist. I also liked how she treated Coyote, she was very patient and calm with him, thinking the way he did. It took Coyote about 60 days to trust Charley enough to even come into the house, and then he still was at the doorway.
I really liked this passage in Listen:
“A week before school is due to start, Mr. Heyward sees Charley and Coyote when they are walking by the mailboxes. ‘You’ve done a good job,’ he tells her. ‘He looks like a different animal.’ ‘He is,’ she says. ‘He is.”
I really liked this passage because it shows how much Coyote has changed in the book, in the beginning he wouldn’t even come near Charley, no matter what. At the end of the book he was sleeping in the house with the door closed and one her bed. I also liked this because it showed that even Charley’s neighbors were noticing a difference in Coyote, even though he wasn’t their dog.
I’d say the theme of this book is patience pays off. I think this is the theme because Charley worked with Coyote for 69+ days, and in the end she had a wonderful dog that she loved and was definitely worth the hard work and frustration that she had gone through. I really like this theme because it is 100% true in my opinion that a little time and love can have amazing effects in the future. If you just rush through something and don’t put any time or effort into it, it could blow up in your face in the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone that loves animals or likes nature because there is a lot of that type of material in Listen. I think you would really enjoy this book because it is very touching and very easy to connect to even if you aren’t a big fan of animals. I think Stephanie S. Tolan is very easy to relate to as an author. She puts feelings into her books that everybody can relate to, from pain and fear to happiness and love. I think this book might be a little bit more on the girly side of the spectrum because there is some drama going on between Charley and her best friend Amy, whose brother caused the car crash that made changed Charley’s life forever.
Your Student,
Sam S.
