LASSIE COME-HOME by Eric Knight
Posted by: witchwillow on: October 15, 2010
Classic Middle School Book
I’m an Anglophile and a dog-lover, so there really was no hope for me when I sat down to read Lassie Come-Home: I fell in love instantly. This classic book for middle school readers, written in 1940, has been published in 25 languages and has never been out of print. It inspired several movies, a radio show, and a long-running TV show.
Joe and his parents, who live in England, in the village of Greenall Bridge, have a beautiful collie named Lassie. Every day when school is about to let out, the collie trots over to wait for Joe. Their wealthy and powerful neighbor, the Duke of Rudling, wants to buy Lassie for a show dog, but Joe’s father won’t sell her.
However, the Great Depression has hit the village hard. Joe’s father, like most of the men there, used to work in the coal mine, but it recently closed. Now there’s barely enough money to feed the family, let alone a big, healthy dog. One day Joe gets out of school and Lassie isn’t waiting for him. He goes home and learns the terrible truth: his father had to sell her to the Duke because money was so short. Joe is heart-broken.
But a few days later Lassie is back outside the school, waiting for Joe. He’s thrilled, but soon learns that she must go back to the Duke’s kennels. The money the Duke paid for her has been spent and can’t be repaid. Lassie belongs to him.
Again Lassie escapes. Again she must go back.
Lassie gets out a third time, but after Joe and his father give her back to the Duke, she doesn’t return. Joe’s father explains that the Duke has taken her to his home in Scotland and plans to keep her there.
Lassie, who doesn’t realize how far from home she is, yearns to go find Joe. When she sees her chance to escape, she takes it, and now her long, dangerous journey begins.
This well-written book captured my heart, as it will that of anyone who loves dogs. Author Eric Knight portrays Lassie realistically, not with the thoughts of a human, but with the instincts, yearnings, and fears of a dog. Read more about Knight here and here.
Reading level: ten and up. There are scenes of cruelty to Lassie and another dog that could be upsetting to younger readers. Also, much of the dialogue is in Yorkshire dialect and Scottish brogue, which I found charming and easy to understand, but which not everyone enjoys.
Published in 1940
248 pages
