Legend of the Ghost Dog (review)

Whenever Tee is traveling with her writer father, it’s her role to take care of him and her little brother, Jack. Now they’re in Nome, Alaska, for a few weeks, and twelve-year-old Tee is delighted to find a friend there in another girl, Quin. The girls are spooked but intrigued when they find a fierce and beautiful—and ghostly—dog in a nearby abandoned miner’s shack. Determined to find out the story behind the dog’s presence, they dive into local history, but their fascination ends up endangering their lives. There’s not much in the way of shivers here, and the plot uses some pretty timeworn devices to get to its point but never really develops characters along the way. Additionally, the backstory narrative, about a pair of sisters and their beloved dog in 1965, is both melodramatic and implausible. On the domestic side, however, this is a solidly written tale about a girl who’s tired of having to be the family grownup and who’s exploring possibilities of liberation in a new place and a new friend. This has a lot in common with Shahan’s Ice Island (BCCB 2/12), including the climactic blizzard that requires the kids to draw on their survival skills, so readers who enjoyed that Alaskan outing may wish to strap on their snowshoes for this one.