Notes from the Dog

Written by Gary Paulsen

Narrated by Nick Podehl

"Sometimes having company is not all it's cracked up to be." Fifteen-year-old Finn is a loner, living with his dad and his amazing dog, Dylan. This summer he's hoping for a job where he doesn't have to talk to anyone except his pal Matthew. Then Johanna moves in next door. She's 10 years older, cool, funny, and she treats Finn as an equal. Dylan loves her, too. Johanna's dealing with breast cancer, and Matthew and Finn learn to care for her, emotionally and physically. When she hires Finn to create a garden, his gardening ideas backfire comically. But Johanna and the garden help Finn discover his talents for connecting with people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781455809110

Gary Paulsen

<P>GARY PAULSEN (1939 - 2021) wrote nearly two hundred books for young people, including the Newbery Honor Books<em> Hatchet, Dogsong,</em> and <em>The Winter Room. </em></P>

Reviews for Notes from the Dog

[pmlyayakkers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finn has a quiet summer vacation planned until a woman with breast cancer moves in next door. Suddenly, he is planting a garden, getting a girlfriend, meeting new people, raising money and enlarging his family group, all of which is very unlike him.

[michelle rex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book and characters in story. A feel good book.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Actually, the title was only a tiny bit relevant, in fact it was almost an annoying sub-plot. Other than that, I really don't know what to say. It was a fun book, even though one of the main characters has cancer. I totally identified with 14 year old Finn, who knows that 'books are safe' and looks forward to summer vacation so he can 'turtle up.' Very quick read.

[bonnie_ferrante · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Paulsen knows how to pull us into a story and care deeply about the characters. A moving story about two middle grade boys, best friends, who connect with a young woman fighting breast cancer. The characters are sweet and the situation poignant. Suitable for grade 6-9.

[defor-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Nothing I haven't read before.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sensitive, heartfelt story about friendship and compassion.

[jodieasley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great story of an unexpected friendship between neighbors and Finn's best friend, his dog. This is a great chapter book with simple vocabulary, but I would recommend this for a fourth grade classroom.

[lilibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finn has a quiet summer vacation planned until a woman with breast cancer moves in next door. Suddenly, he is planting a garden, getting a girlfriend, meeting new people, raising money and enlarging his family group, all of which is very unlike him.

[brandon7bsto6922 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Notes from the dog is a very interesting story about a fourteen year old boy who does not excel in social confrontation, and would rather take refuge into his remote world of reading.It is an interesting read, this boy; Finn meets a cancer survivor, Johanna, who has moved in next door to him. He has made a goal that he will not socially interact with more than ten people the whole summer. johanna who is an open ended person will change that. she does this by entering him into a triathon and wants him and his friend mathew to compete in it for her when she gets terribley sick. now so begeins the adventure of finn, johanna, and mathew.

[detailmuse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How does a 14-year-old guy transform from a loner whose goal is to speak to fewer than a dozen people total over the summer -- to realizing that “the more people who were in our yard, the better it looked”?For Finn, it happens with the help of his border collie Dylan, his confident buddy Matthew (whose parents are divorcing and who’s living with Finn and Finn's dad because “he wasn’t going to learn how to do the shared custody thing on his summer vacation”) … and Johanna, a twentysomething who’s house-sitting next door and undergoing chemo for breast cancer.A light, sweet YA novella.

[jovanh470volny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Notes from the dog is a very interesting story about a fourteen year old boy who does not excel in social confrontation, and would rather take refuge into his remote world of reading. It is a story authored by Gary Paulsen, one of my favorites, and is genre of writing that I thought to be anomalous to Gary Paulsen previous novels. It is an interesting read, this boy; Finn meets a cancer survivor, Johanna, who has moved in next door to him. He has made a goal that he will not socially interact with more than ten people the whole summer. But Johanna, and open ended person, will change that. There is also Matthew, a friend of Finn's who has moved in with him for the time being because his parents are getting divorced. These three will stumble upon a number of occurrences that will have them occupied for the duration of the summer. Finn had already seen Johanna, but as shy as he is, never confronted her. But something was different this day; Johanna was bald. Finn and his friend were sitting on the doorway to his house when Johanna pulled up in her driveway. She was bald, and they stared at her for until she noticed. Finn had already been thinking that she knew they were staring at her baldness. But she does not feel offended by this, and simply explains to them that she is going through chemotherapy, which causes baldness. After this confrontation with Johanna it was determined that Finn would never accomplish his goal. Finn’s dog Dylan has been giving notes of advice to Finn. As would anyone, he thinks this is not an everyday occurrence. But he benefits from this, so he does not say anything. As the book progresses, Johanna has already become good friends with Finn and Matthew. She has told them that she will be participating in a triathlon at the end of summer to promote cancer research, and needs to raise money for the cause. She is aiming for ten-thousand dollars. Finn and Mathew then go around collecting money from strangers to help the cause. Talking to stranger does not well suit Finn, so Finn has a good experience in talking to people. He has even got himself a girlfriend, all credited towards Johanna. Nearing the triathlon event, Finn has made a great deal of friends, and does not fear interacting with other individuals. On the night before the triathlon, Johanna, after training very hard, and going through a session of chemotherapy, has plunged into a deep sickness. Finn and Matt decide that Johanna will be unable to take part in the triathlon, and must take her place in it. The day the triathlon is due to happen, Finn notices all of the people he has become well-acquainted with are there to cheer him and Matthew on. An event that will change his outlook on life, and help him learn that he should cherish more than not care for. A humorous, and dramatic story, and a great read for all ages.

[karenball_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Finn is 14 and feels like a total oddball. He lives with his dad, his dog Dylan, and his best friend Matthew, who's moved in while his parents are busy getting divorced. Finn hates talking to people, because he always feels like he's saying the wrong things, so he's hoping for a summer job where he doesn't have to talk to ANYONE. Johanna, a graduate student who talks to Finn as an equal, arrives next door to house-sit for the neighbors for the summer, and she hires him to create a garden for her. Finn has no experience doing this, and Paulsen's trademark humor shows up in Finn's mistakes! Johanna is battling breast cancer, and when she becomes ill after chemo, Finn and Matthew help to take care of her, and their summer revolves around helping her to raise money for her triathlon, the garden, and getting Finn a date with his dream girl. Short, funny, and thoughtful... 7th grade and up.

[lnommay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book talk:You just never know what you're going to get when you pick up a book written by Gary Paulsen. Action? Adventure? Mystery? Humor? One thing you can always count on in his books are interesting characters. There's really not a lot of action in this book, unless you count planting a garden for the neighbor as action. Fourteen year old Finn would say that since his plans for summer vacation were to read as many books as he could and talk to fewer than a dozen people for the entire summer, putting in a garden was definitely more action than he had hoped to see between no wan when he graduated high school (when he hoped to find a job where he would always work alone). As to adventure--well, there was an incident of vandalism when they broke the lock on the gate to get to the beach so some could go skinny-dipping--that was quite an adventure! Mystery? Yeah! Who is writing the notes to Finn that are being delivered by his dog Dylan? They don't come very often, but when they do, their simple messages are meaningful: "You're not as ugly as you think," "You're wrong about you and girls." Uhhh, Finn can barely hold a conversation with his dad, let alone anyone his own age. So who is it that Finn becomes friends with a twenty-something college student that moves in across the street for the summer and ends up making a garden for her? Expect a little Gary Paulsen humor, probably more humor than action, adventure, or mystery. Oh, and maybe some sad parts, because, well, that twenty-something new neighbor has cancer. And cancer doesn't have to break apart families; sometimes it makes them.

[yamaven · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this as an eBook and enjoyed it. It's a very different book from a lot of Paulsen's more adventure type stories. A very sweet story about a boy who's dealing with a lot.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

14 year old Finn plans to have a quiet summer, and has even figured out the fewest number of people he can talk to all summer. This changes when he meets Joanna, a 20 something, graduate students who moves in next door, and is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Finn gets involved in fundraising for her cancer research project AND in building/growing her a garden. Both activities help him to grow socially. A very quick read with some very thought provoking passages.I read this for the Peel Fiction Review committee, so the book is not at my work location unless I buy it, which I might do.