Welcome to another book review, my friend! Today I have a book targeted at young audiences. Dogs lovers in particular will enjoy this book and if you had dogs growing up, I am positive you will be reminded of the summer days with your best buddy. What the Dogs Knows isn’t a book I picked for myself – it was a surprise when it arrived in the mail from Dundurn Press along with the ARC I had requested. It is very rare that I get books without requesting them so I decided to dive into this one right away. Here is the synopsis and then read on for my thoughts:
Naomi’s dog Diesel returns from the afterlife with one mission. Naomi can hear his thoughts. Can he save her?
It’s Naomi’s worst summer ever. Her dog, Diesel, died. Dad lost his job. Mom and Dad split up. The family is broke, and Naomi is stuck babysitting when she planned to take swimming lessons.
Then Naomi’s sometime-friend Morgan convinces her to jump off a dock. On July 1 at precisely 4:30, when Naomi drowns, destiny shifts.
Naomi awakes a week earlier to Diesel talking to her. Through his canine counsel, he wants to show her how to fix things. “I can save you,” he barks. But no matter how often Naomi resets her watch, the time and date keep flipping back to July 1 at 4:30, which makes her wonder: is her time running out?
Content Notes: Separated parents, hit-and-run car accident, death of a pet.
Thoughts on What the Dog Knows
What the Dog Knows takes place over the course of a week. When the 1st of July rolls around the first time, Naomi has lost her beloved dog, Diesel. Nothing in life is going well. She isn’t sure whether Morgan is truly her friend, her parents have separated and her grief for losing her dog is inescapable. When she jumps off a dock and drowns, she wakes up a week earlier on the day Diesel died. He is alive and she can hear him talk. What follows is a week where Diesel helps Naomi realize who her pack is and how to bring the people she loves together.
At the beginning, Naomi is struggling with her reality. She died but she is still alive and her dog is talking to her. She compares the life she is living to the one she has lived before and by being more present in the moment and receptive to the feelings of those around her, she is able to not only learn to do things for herself but also speak up.
Naomi’s friendship with Morgan reminded me of my own friendship with someone I knew a long time ago. Not all friendships are straightforward. Not all friends are the ones we imagine having. People are different and that’s a lesson we learn through teenage years in particular. Naomi, for some reason, always expects the worst of Morgan. I am not sure why that is and how she came to be so mistrustful of her friend, but the incident with Diesel and herself wakes her up and she starts to acknowledge that Morgan really is her friend and is looking out for her. Diesel knows that she belongs in the pack and he helps by being friendly with her and showing Naomi that Morgan is indeed a good person, not perfect, but definitely one who has her back. Through the course of the week, the two live together.
Morgan is a good support system for Naomi even if she doesn’t want to admit it. The two of them have a lot in common – they are entering highschool and the social pressure is on, also their parents have separated. For Naomi, their separation is very recent and she believes that her Dad can turn this around with her Mom. The teenage solution of doing something romantic to save the marriage made me chuckle and I enjoyed seeing how the advice unfolded.
Naomi is a loving sister to her aunt’s toddler. Morgan, having a younger sibling and a dog, gets along with Diesel and Lyanne very well. I loved that taking care of her cousin was not a chore for Naomi and brought the family closer. Her family’s socioeconomic situation might have a role to play but being happy about the caregiving made me like Naomi even more. She has dreams and knows she has to work hard for them and in this book, she learns the hard choice of prioritizing today over tomorrow. Small pleasures like buying a swimming suit reminded me of the tug of war between saving pocket money and spending it.
This is a fast paced good with a Groundhog Day set up. Diesel’s voice is exactly how I imagined my dogs and I loved being reminded of the companionship and unconditional love that dogs have to offer.
Many thanks to Dundurn Press for sending me an advanced copy of this book. It was a fun way to reminisce about my teenage years, summers in particular.
Will you pick up this quick read? Add What the Dog Knows book on your Goodreads shelf.
Check out my other reviews on the book review index page and stay tuned for reviews of other titles by Dundurn Press!
Banner Photo by T.R Photography 📸 on Unsplash
Thank you for posting this wonderful article,the saying a dog is man’s bestfriend is true, and this story is amazing Diesel wants to help Naomi to put together all her love ones.
I am looking forward to see more such type of article in future
Thank you for reading! 🙂