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Finney, Patricia. I, Jack; illus. by Peter Bailey.
HarperCollins, 2004 185p
ISBN 0-06-052207-0 $15.99
Gr. 4-7
Stories revealing the inner lives of animals are an old staple in children’s
literature, and some of its best-known classics have treated the subject. Characters
such as Black Beauty or even 101 Dalmatians’ Pongo and Missis seem to have
a more elevated approach to life, though, than the animals most of us know and
love, and one can’t help but think that more authentic representation is
needed.
And now it’s here. Jack, author and narrator (the book is, according to
CIP information, by jack the dog as told to Patricia Finney), is a yellow Labrador
Retriever, and apparently Labs write with all the squirmy, blissful exuberance
you’d expect: “Hi! Hi there! Hello! Hi, friend!! I am Jack! Look at
me! Here I am. I like you. Do you like me? I am jack. BIG DOG JACK!! Hi! Can
I smell your . . . ? Oh. Sorry.” Jack excitedly introduces
readers to his human pack (mother, father, and the kids Terri, Pete, and Mikey,
also known as Packleader, Pack Lady, and the apedog puppies), then goes on to
tell the saga of his love for Petra, the beautiful Samoyed next door with the
prissy owners, and his struggle to be with her as he wishes (aided and abetted
by the kids in Jack’s pack, who open the fence so the two can be together)
and then to support her in her pregnancy and motherhood. The humans don’t
understand what’s going on as Jack keeps darting off to be with Petra in
the abandoned building where she’s holed up, but it’s Jack who saves
the day—well, blunders around in a way that improves things—when his
Packleader injures himself in an accident in that abandoned building, just before
its demolition begins.
The narrative in this British import is perfectly pitched. There’s just
enough human understanding to advance the plot and to make Jack’s viewpoint
understandable (a dog-to-human glossary is included for those who need additional
assistance) but Jack’s world remains earthily, comically doggy. He’s
much more focused on human body language than human verbal expressions (the
former he reads with keen accuracy, but he braggingly repeats the verbal assessment
of his humans that “I am very Thick. I am very very Thick”). His life
is arranged according to canine priorities and ruled mainly by his love for
his pack, his interest in food, the exciting things he can smell, and the wonders
of pee and poop (Jack gets very sad when people shut him out of the bathroom,
noting that Packleader “is doing a lovely long Wet Message. Why will he
not let me smell it? It must be a very wonderful Message, full of Bigness and
Loudness”). Changes in font size convey the emphasis that would ordinarily
be expressed in extra canine bounce or shamefaced wilting to the floor; disdainful
footnotes from the family cats, who refer to Jack (with some justice) as “the
Big Yellow Stupid,” run throughout, offering their own sardonically funny
view of the multispecies household and cross-cultural confusion.
Often books that achieve a truly clever narrative voice find it difficult to
give it sufficient plot to justify a novel, but Finney gives Jack adventure
enough to be worth talking about as well as even a bit of character development
(formerly a dog who throws up in fear at the snarl of a little terrier, Jack
bravely joins in the defense of his pack in the face of the marauding “metal
monsters” of the demolition crew), without turning Jack into a Lassie-esque
superdog (“What is a ‘Lassie’? Food, maybe?”). Dynamic little
line drawings scattered through the text add to the allure this will have for
young readers, but it would also be a hilarious readaloud for those willing
to shed their inhibitions and run with—well, not the wolves, but a somewhat
dorky and very lovable Lab.
Deborah Stevenson, Editor
Cover illustration by Sheila Moxley from I, Jack ©2004. Used by
permission of HarperCollins Children's Books.
This page was last updated on April 1, 2004.