Book Description
for Faith and the Electric Dogs by Patrick Jennings
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A fantasy about Faith, who hates living in Mexico and wants to go home to San Francisco; and faith, or believing that good things can happen even when life looks bleak; a homemade rocket ship called Peahen and a small Pacific Island; and, most importantly Eddie, an electric dog (the term refers to cheap or no good stray in Spanish, not literally plugged in) who happens to be the narrator of our story. Eddie's sparkling narrative describes Faith's rough adjustment to life in Mexico, his own appreciation for the culture of his native land, and her failed attempt to rocket herself back home. It also offers readers the opportunity to ponder the ways we make ourselves at home in--or at odds with--the world around us. A singular story weaves liberal Spanish and occasional Tzuitzal words and phrases into the text. All are defined in the margins of the inviting page design, and again in a glossary at the back of this unusual book. (Ages 8-11)
CCBC Choices 1996. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1996. Used with permission.