Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 17, Lassie Come Home

One of the best tests for any children's book is to read it aloud to a group of, say, twenty children, and watch their reaction.

I did just that with Lassie Come Home for my co-op class of around twenty 1-3 graders, and judging by their response, their laughter, their wide-eyes attentiveness, this books wins a blue ribbon.  

The version of Lassie Come Home that I read is adapted by Rosemary Wells, and illustrated by Susan Jeffers, but of course the original version (which I would like to read sometime soon!) is written by Eric Knight.

There are several reasons to love this particular book:

1. It is nice and big, making it perfect for reading to a group of children.

2. It is beautifully illustrated, adding power and feeling to a wonderful narrative.

3. The story is about a boy and his beloved collie, and that strikes a chord in many a child's heart.

4. Set in England & Scotland during the 1930's, the story holds a charm unique to that land & era.

The book opens on the scene of Joe coming out of school and wondering where his faithful dog is, for she always waited for him in a corner of the schoolyard. He runs home, only to find that his parents have sold Lassie to the Duke of Rudling because his father has just lost his job in the mines and they need the money.

Joe's mother reminded him that, "they could just pay the rent this month and did not have much left over for more than a little bread with no jam and tea with no milk."

The story goes on to tell of the twilight that moves into the house, with it's empty hearth and unused brush on the mantle. It then moves to Lassie, stuck in a kennel three miles away and longing for the family she loves.

Lassie manages to escape his kennel and his unkindly keeper, Hynes, three times and return to Joe, but each time they take her back in some of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the book!

Finally, Lassie is taken to the Highlands of Scotland, where she will be sure not to escape ever again.

Or will she?

To begin with, the duke's granddaughter has a soft spot for Lassie and a memory of Joe telling his dog to "stay, girl...never come back," and she manages to aid Lassie's escape one day in a very memorable scene in the story that delighted my class of children!

From that point on, Lassie has one foe after another- humans, illness, hunger, other dogs- as she goes ever south on her journey towards home.

Finally...finally...after a thousand miles and nearly a year, Joe comes out of school to discover Lassie laying in the blowing leaves and nearly dead, waiting for him.

This is the scene that always makes me choke up and feel a bit emotional...even with twenty children looking on.

"You're my Lassie come-home," Joe said. "My Lassie come home, and they'll have to pull me limb from limb before they ever take you away again." 

We all love a story with a good ending, and this one has one of the best.

The Duke asks Joe's father to be his new kennelman, bringing his wife and son, and of course the dog with him to his new job, where he earns six pounds a week (and can presumably now afford milk for his tea!)

The Duke puts it this way: "I had to buy a man, woman, and boy to get the dog back on my property. Can you imagine? I've bought a man to get a dog!"

In the final scene, we see the happiest of boys larking with the happiest of dogs in a green, flower-filled meadow.

"In that tick of time they spoke a language like a song, boy and dog, sun and meadow."

One of the themes threading it's way throughout the story is the question whether love can be bought and sold?

The answer may resound more with the adult reading the book than the children listening, but we all know that certain things are priceless, and that love and loyalty top the list of precious things that come with the ultimate price tag...

Laying down your life for a friend.