Some very stirring scenes in this one. A young boy, unhappy because his mother has left him and his father, falls under the spell of a friend. Together the two flirt with evil . . . our hero drawn in by the spell the other boys casts on him. The climactic scene--our hero climbs a railway trestle because of a dare--is wonderful. Too much of the book is predictable. Unhappy boy meets eccentric adults (noseless woman, crazy man) who show him that life encompasses more than the ordinary and teach him lessons he'd never learn in school. Definitely uneven. (

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cdeuker | Jun 18, 2009 |

For older children, but an entertaining "coming of age" novel (

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Prop2gether | Dec 3, 2008 |

Exquisitely written, translated from Swedish. A boy whose mother abandoned him and his father, longs to know about his mother amidst his father's refusal to discuss it. On his own, he pursues a dog he saw out the window late at night, a dog on his way to a star. While seeking the dog, he learns about right and wrong, about adults and their world, and about being different. This opens up a new door to his relationship with his Dad. A beautiful story. (

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ohioyalibrarian | Mar 21, 2008 |

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Series (with order)

Joel Gustafsson (1)

Canonical Title

Original publication date

1990

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Nils Holgersson Prize (1991)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis

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Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0385734956, Hardcover)

One of the world’s best-selling authors has written a moving story about a teenager’s life in Northern Sweden.

12-year-old Joel lives with his father in the cold northern part of Sweden. At night he often sneaks out of the house to look for a lonely dog he has seen from his window. On the bridge across the icy river he starts a secret society and has adventures. But one night he discovers that his father’s bed is also empty, and so he will have to come to terms with his father’s newfound love. The harsh reality of Joel’s world comes vividly to life and leaves the reader spellbound.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)

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