Benji

       For my out of class book I read Benji by Allison Thomas. It was copyrighted in 1975. Benji is a fiction book. Benji is a stray dog that is very smart and is loved by everyone, and goes about his day in a routine and visits the same people every day. He especially loves these two kids who feed him and take care of him, but their dad will not let them keep Benji as a pet. Whenever the two kids get kidnapped Benji gets everyone's attention and leads them to where the kids are located and Benji rescued the two kids and was rewarded by living in a home with them. I think that the overall theme is anyone can be a hero, even if it is just a stray dog. 
       

       This story is told in 3rd person. The author writes the story centered on Benji. Benji wakes up every morning and visits the Chapman's house. There he is loved and he gets his meal. But if he his is seen by Mr. Chapman then Benji will have to go away from that house. After that he goes and sees other people like police officer, and restaurant owners. One day he finds a stray white female dog, Tiffany, looking for food. So, Benji offers his bone to her and they immediately become friends. When they go back to their house which is an abandoned mansion, strangers come in and start talking about a plan. Benji is very confused. The next day they come back again with another person. He is the leader of the group. Then, on a third day they come back again but this time they have 2 kids. The 2 kids are the Chapman's. Benji is very worried, so he grabs the draft ransom note that the kidnappers wrote and escape from the kidnappers and runs toward the Chapman's house. At the house is Mr. Chapman, Mary the housekeeper, 3 policemen, and 2 neighbors. At first the people ignore Benji, but after a couple of tries they finally see the paper. Benji runs out of the door with the group of people fallowing him, and he leads them to the kids. The kidnappers get arrested and Benji and Tiffany both get to live with the Chapman's for saving the kids. The intended audience is people who like dogs and kids. I think that the genre of this book is realistic-fiction, because I think that a dog could help save kidnapped kids. The author style keeps you want to read. I think it is very effective for the audience because it will keep them interested.


       The book made me think more about a dog's perspective. I never thought that a dog maybe having a daily routine. It made me think of my dog, that maybe she does close to the same things every day. This book fits into my personal world view because I'm around my dog, and it make me think more about what my dogs view on things are. This book does not bring up memories of books, but it does with movies, such as Cats and Dogs and The Homeward Bound.


        I thought that this was a very entertaining book. It quickly got me hooked so it was very easy to read. I would defiantly recommend this book to dog lovers and people who like animal books or movies.


Ryan Ramsay
11/6/13
RATING: ***** 5/5