Megan Moruzzi

Megan Moruzzi
Just a Dog
Michael Gerard Bauer
Realistic Fiction
Holiday
57


1. I have recently started the book Just a Dog by Michael Gerard Bauer. This book is set up differently than other books. It is various stories about a dog named Mr. Mosley and his new found family. The main characters name is Corey. Corey's family is Mr. Mosley's owners. it is Corey's mom and dad and his two little sisters Amelia and Grace. They got him from his Uncle Gavin, his uncle is a dog breeder and had a batch of puppies that were not pure bread. His Uncle thinks that people only want pure bread dogs so he was giving that bunch away for free, so they took him. The book doesn't have much of a plot it is just random stories about Mr. Mosley. The stories about Mr. Mosley are funny because they are so strange. One of the stories was Corey was calling Moe to come to him and he usually always does but he would come half way across the wad stop and cry and then go back and it happened a couple of time and Corey didn't know what was wrong so him and his dad went over to see what was wrong and he had a fishing wire stuck in his mouth and he had to get stitches. I liked the excitement to the story but there was no rhyme or reason to it and the next chapter was a totally different subject. The other thing that I don't really like in this book is that at the end of every chapter is a cliff hanger but they never tell you what the solution is. For example they keep mentioning bad things about Uncle Gavin and how they had a falling out but they never tell you why and its kind of annoying. I like the stories but I don't like the fact that there really is no plot and all the things that I am wondering haven't even gotten mentioned again.

2. The book Just a Dog is interesting but a little boring. The book is set up so that every chapter is a different story about Moe. I like the characters and the different stories that happen in the book, but I think there could be a little more flow in it, and the author could have made it a little easier to understand. I really like the stories that are told in the book, some of them really make me think. In one of the stories Moe disappears for 2 weeks and the whole chapter describes what degrees the family goes to too search for him and some events leading up to the disappearance and then suddenly one night Moe just shows up at the back door and it says how surprised they were to see him and then it says something about what he brought back was even more surprising, but they never tell you what he brought back, the chapter just ends and you are left with so many unanswered questions. My favorite story so far in the book is Mr. Mosley's trick. Moe can hear the paper man coming and run to the yard and when the mail man throws the paper Moe catches it in his mouth and brings it to Corey. This is my favorite chapter because there is a lot of detail about how Moe learns the trick and what mistake he made that made him never get the mail again. Overall I think that the book is well written but I don't really understand what the author is trying to do when he puts a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter than never gets answered.

3. A major themes in this book is family blessing. I see this theme a lot throughout the book. Its not that the family is presented with a blessing, it is that they are reminded of there blessing, Moe. Moe is definitely a blessing because he brings the family a lot closer together. The family works together whenever Moe is in trouble to help him. Moe is also a blessing because Corey always says how much he can relate to Moe even though he is a dog. That stuck me as something important because it made me think that maybe Corey doesn't have anyone else to relate too. This theme appears mostly in the characters,  its when they have those family moments where everybody is sharing the same interest and that it Moe. When Moe came back form where ever he was, the whole family pats him an hugs him and kisses him because they are all so happy that he is home with them and I think that really shows how much Moe means to them.

4. My favorite character is Corey. I like Corey because I feel like he is the one that I know the best out of all the characters. I also think that he is the one that loves Moe the most. He takes time out of his day everyday after school and plays with Moe in the back yard. He was the one who taught Moe to catch the mail in his mouth. One day when they were playing in the back yard Corey herd the mail man coming so he decided that e wanted to try to catch the mail. The first couple times that Corey did this he would miss or the mail would fall out of his hands and then he might catch it the next day. But this one time that he went to get the mail Moe beat him to it. Corey was running for it and Moe knocked him down jumped off his shoulders and caught the papers in his mouth. After that Corey just let him get it day after day and he would get treat after treat.

5. My least favorite character it Uncle Gavin. Even though I don't know him that well yet I don't like the fact that he just gave Moe away and the way that he treats him. He is always trying to scare him. There is this one pink panther toy that Moe thinks is the scariest thing ever so Corey hide it so that Moe would never find it. One Christmas Uncle Gavin was over and he remembered Moe's fear so, he got the pink panther out of its hiding spot and quietly snuck around Moe and then jumped out at him and put the toy on his face and Gavin just laughed and laughed.  I don't think that this was funny because Moe was really scared and no one else thought it was funny. It was really immature and Moe didn't do anything bad to Uncle Gavin so why did he have to do such a cruel thing to Moe. I also don't like Uncle Gavin because in the book it keeps mentioning how they had a huge falling out with him but they don't tell you what happened. Corey and his family seem really nice so Uncle Gavin must have done something really bad to them.

6. My prediction is that something is going to happen towards the end of the book that explains all the cliffhangers and all the mysterious things that have been talk about in the book (Uncle Gavin's falling out). I think that this is going to happen because I don't think that it is fair that I have all these questions and they haven't even gotten mentioned again. I hope that either the last chapter or one of the last chapters explains everything that has gone on in the book so far that I don't understand. It would make me not like the book a lot if the points that have been made were no explained because Uncle Gavin is a big part of the story - he gave them Mr. Mosley, and if something happened to him I would like to know. I just think that this book would be a lot better if they told you more about whats going on rather than keeping you guessing at every chapter.