The Boy and the Dog

There’s been a small wave of books about animals by Japanese writers in recent years: The Travelling Cat Chronicles, What If Cats Disappeared from the World, The Cat Who Saved Books. Those are the three I’ve read; there are more. They’re beautifully told, in simple, unadorned prose, and I’ve enjoyed them all. (Although I am curious as to whether they read as easily - or even more easily - in Japanese as they do in the English translations.)

Now there’s The Boy and the Dog to add to the list, in which a dog named Tamon travels south through Japan, passing from one ‘owner’ to the next. All the owners are different from one another. All are affected in different ways by Tamon. And when he reaches his destination… well, read the book.

Touching rather than sentimental – I wonder how Hollywood would handle the professions of some of the owners - I’d recommend this to anyone who likes animals, and recognizes the impact they can have on our lives.