Dog Trouble

Writer / Artist
RATING:
Dog Trouble
Dog Trouble graphic novel review
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  • North American Publisher / ISBN: First Second - 978-1-2502-2591-7
  • Release date: 2024
  • UPC: 9781250225917
  • Contains adult content?: no
  • Does this pass the Bechdel test?: no
  • Positive minority portrayal?: yes
  • CATEGORIES: All-Ages, Slice of Life

Ash is a good kid, but suffers from the lack of parental supervision. His father lives in the countryside, and Ash visits monthly, spending most of the time with his mother in the city. His mother’s nursing career, though, requires adapting to whatever happens, and she’s additionally studying for a new qualification, so after school Ash can be left alone. One afternoon he and a bunch of friends break into an empty warehouse, and his mother decides it would be better for everyone that he spends the summer with his father. Additionally he’s going to have to do some community service while there, so he chooses to work at the animal shelter.

It’s not a job Ash is keen on, but Kristin Varner worked in a similar facility herself and has done the additional research ensuring Dog Trouble is packed with enlightening detail about the running of an animal shelter that most people wouldn’t consider. An example is the shelter keeping records known as fecal scoring, with Ash having to note the pattern of dog poo in case it shows signs of illness. As Ash learns about behaviour training, diseases and different breeds of dogs, so do readers, helped by Varner illustrating a different dog at the shelter as the opening to each new chapter.

In places the concentration on educational aspects overwhelms the ongoing story, but there’s no glossing over a dog’s natural instincts. Even when drawn in Varner’s simple style it’s upsetting to see a dog chase and kill a squirrel, but she takes time to explore Ash’s feelings afterwards.

The general thrust of Dog Trouble is predictable, but probably not so much so for the intended audience. Ash comes to enjoy what a small country town and its surroundings has to offer, grows ever more confident with dogs, and gradually opens himself up a little to integrate into his father’s new family. It’s all handled gradually and naturally, and Varner continues to provide the rough with the smooth. Page 217 is going to come as a shock to every reader, and the emotional reaction it prompts is natural, as are the feelings afterwards.

This probably isn’t the graphic novel to give to a child likely to become upset at sad moments, but it’s thoughtful and humane, and pretty well guaranteed to have readers wanting to adopt a dog afterwards.

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