A review by piburnjones
Kaya and Lone Dog: A Friendship Story by Janet Beeler Shaw
5.0
Again, reading for the first time as an adult, in advance of the American Girls podcast.
This isn't actually a "Happy Birthday" book, as the fourth book was for earlier American Girl characters, and yet - just as every AG "Happy Birthday" book must - we have an animal plotline.
Caro, Jip, and Bennett, please welcome Tatlo to the AG pupper hall of fame! (Why are AG puppies all male?)
Of course the "Lone Dog" in the title is Tatlo's mother. Kaya, feeling lonely, sympathizes with the hungry dog and befriends her, but ultimately Lone Dog must follow her nature. She doesn't want to become part of the pack, though Tatlo does. (And unlike Jip and Bennett, he actually shows up in the rest of the series.)
Kaya has an abundance of reasons to feel lonely: Swan Circling is dead, Speaking Rain hasn't been found, and the other kids are still calling her "Magpie." With all these sad thoughts, she can't dig kouse roots with the other girls and women - which becomes yet another reason to feel left out.
(As a tangent, I want to look for more information around this belief that negative feelings could cause physical harm. From the tiny bit we get here, I'm left wondering if Kaya's culture was kinder to things like depression, or if this created pressure to push feelings away and not process them.)
I like the way Kaya's father helps her use this time in a way that makes good use of her love and skill with horses. I'd really love a frank discussion of gender roles and status in this culture, actually. So many tasks are clearly gendered, but I don't have a sense for whether horse training is. They may both be Horse Girls, but the way Kaya interacts with horses is very different from, say, how Felicity interacts with horses.
I'm not surprised that Kaya's vow from a previous book - to never again chase away hungry dogs after her experience as a captive - is put to the test. And I like the way she talks things out with her family. Even when they don't come to the conclusion she was hoping for, she takes their concerns to heart, AND it doesn't stop her from discussing the topic again later. Feels like there's a lot of healthy communication in these.
This one is pretty gentle in pace, while also spanning a fairly long time - the puppies are born and grow old enough to leave their mother. With people from many tribes gathering to dig kouse roots, Two Hawks is reunited with his uncle. The other big excitement is the bear, a very close parallel to Kirsten Saves the Day. Sparrow has a close call, but narratively, you know he's not in danger any more than Peter was.
I had wondered if Kaya's not-Happy Birthday book would be the story of her vision quest. Nope! Peek Into the Past says that typically happened closer to 12-13 years old, but it's mentioned often enough through the series that I assumed it was foreshadowing. Oh well.
This isn't actually a "Happy Birthday" book, as the fourth book was for earlier American Girl characters, and yet - just as every AG "Happy Birthday" book must - we have an animal plotline.
Caro, Jip, and Bennett, please welcome Tatlo to the AG pupper hall of fame! (Why are AG puppies all male?)
Of course the "Lone Dog" in the title is Tatlo's mother. Kaya, feeling lonely, sympathizes with the hungry dog and befriends her, but ultimately Lone Dog must follow her nature. She doesn't want to become part of the pack, though Tatlo does. (And unlike Jip and Bennett, he actually shows up in the rest of the series.)
Kaya has an abundance of reasons to feel lonely: Swan Circling is dead, Speaking Rain hasn't been found, and the other kids are still calling her "Magpie." With all these sad thoughts, she can't dig kouse roots with the other girls and women - which becomes yet another reason to feel left out.
(As a tangent, I want to look for more information around this belief that negative feelings could cause physical harm. From the tiny bit we get here, I'm left wondering if Kaya's culture was kinder to things like depression, or if this created pressure to push feelings away and not process them.)
I like the way Kaya's father helps her use this time in a way that makes good use of her love and skill with horses. I'd really love a frank discussion of gender roles and status in this culture, actually. So many tasks are clearly gendered, but I don't have a sense for whether horse training is. They may both be Horse Girls, but the way Kaya interacts with horses is very different from, say, how Felicity interacts with horses.
I'm not surprised that Kaya's vow from a previous book - to never again chase away hungry dogs after her experience as a captive - is put to the test. And I like the way she talks things out with her family. Even when they don't come to the conclusion she was hoping for, she takes their concerns to heart, AND it doesn't stop her from discussing the topic again later. Feels like there's a lot of healthy communication in these.
This one is pretty gentle in pace, while also spanning a fairly long time - the puppies are born and grow old enough to leave their mother. With people from many tribes gathering to dig kouse roots, Two Hawks is reunited with his uncle. The other big excitement is the bear, a very close parallel to Kirsten Saves the Day. Sparrow has a close call, but narratively, you know he's not in danger any more than Peter was.
I had wondered if Kaya's not-Happy Birthday book would be the story of her vision quest. Nope! Peek Into the Past says that typically happened closer to 12-13 years old, but it's mentioned often enough through the series that I assumed it was foreshadowing. Oh well.