That'll Do, Moss

From School Library Journal\nGrade 4-8-Border collie Moss returns in his third book, which does not stand alone. Diane is baby-sitting for the summer for the Pragers, who have taken the dog in. When rabies is found in the area, they must kill their lambs, which might have been exposed. Upset, one of their sons runs away. When Diane and Moss locate him, they see that he is injured, and she goes for help. In the meantime, one of the neighbors finds him and severely hurts the dog because he defends the boy so aggressively. While the human characters and dialogue are realistic, Moss never comes to life. The fact that the searcher slams and nearly kills him with a pipe seems gratuitous and shocking. The incident appears to exist only so that Diane can then take responsibility for Moss, thus making him "her dog." If readers of the earlier titles can stand seeing him hurt again so that another child can learn to trust herself, they will read this one. Others can pass on it.
Sally Bates Goodroe, formerly at Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nDuring the summer that Diane lives with a family as their babysitter, she works to establish rapport with the border collie Moss as everyone tries to cope with several crises.\nFrom Booklist\nGr. 4-6. Though the ominous opening portends calamity, readers follow Diane as she trudges to her weekend job at Prager farm. Waiting at the farm is Moss, the collie introduced in Levin's Away to Me, Moss (1994) and Look Back, Moss (1998). But here, the dog is subdued. Is he pining for his previous caregivers? Diane suspects he's bored and needs to get back to herding. She would like to work with him, but her job babysitting the Pragers' sons consumes most of her time, and her employers are busy farming and establishing their new business. Then rabies intrudes, threatening the Pragers' livestock and possibly their lives. An adept storyteller, Levin engages readers in the everyday activities on the farm as she tells a story about people drawn together by need, responsibility, love, and even fear, which shackles some of the characters and forces them to act without thinking. A wrenching, thoughtful read for more mature elementary schoolers. Ellen Mandel
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