Rachel, a high school misfit, feels an instant kinship with a feral collie. "The author plumbs not only Rachel's dark and darkly funny psyche, but also what it means to be human and to make connections of love and trust," wrote <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

Smart, angry, and alone, Rachel doesn't fit in with the TV girls, net jockeys, or other groups at her high school. She feels best when she's writing and when she's volunteering at the animal shelter, especially after a feral collie appears, who she names Grrl. Rachel loves the dog's fierce wildness, and she begins to find her own voice in a raw, edgy story-within-a-story she writes from Grrl's perspective. A new classmate, Griffin, sees Rachel's rage, solitude, and talent--her real self--and the friendship developing between them helps Rachel learn to trust, forgive, and let Grrl go. Koja, the author of several adult novels, writes a searing, beautiful book for young readers. Rachel's epiphany about Grrl may be too neat and self-aware, and a few peripheral characters, particularly Rachel's father, are puzzling, underdeveloped types. But the strong characters, rich detail, and well-articulated emotions, interspersed with Rachel's startling writing, make a powerful story that will resonate with many teens.

"Lassie with an attitude" is how an animal shelter employee describes the feral collie he brings in one day. It's also an apt description for this novel--a dog story that isn't sappy--and its protagonist, Rachel, who is both kindhearted (toward dogs) and hostile (toward almost everyone else). The satisfying novel is a fast but semi-sophisticated read for teens who haven't outgrown dog stories.

A horror novelist for adults ( Extremities , 1998, etc.) tries a different tack with this whiny but intense girl-meets-dog (and boy) story. Volunteering at an animal shelter, prickly loner Rachel finds a kindred spirit in the newly arrived, savagely feral dog she dubs "Grrl." A compulsive writer, Rachel is inspired to work on a nightmarish, dog's-eye view of street life that her creative-writing teacher urges her to finish and submit to a competition; meanwhile, Rachel is making another connection, this time with Griffin, a withdrawn new classmate. After some wary circling, Griffin offers his backyard as a pen for Grrl—but Rachel returns to the shelter to discover that Grrl's already been euthanized. Though she tends toward trite self-analysis ("What do you do when you're too smart for the freaks, but too much of a freak for the smart kids?") and is given to tirades about her parents' character flaws, people who don't spay their pets, and like topics, Rachel's emotional intensity, conveyed both in her fierce narrative and in long passages from her story, is compelling enough to draw readers along. Less compelling is the ending, in which Griffin snaps her out of a bout of wild, destructive grief, and the two adopt another, friendlier, stray dog. Still, fans of tales about teen writers, or stories with animal themes, will pant after this. (Fiction. 12-15)

Gr 8-10-Grrl is a feral collie, as beautiful as Lassie, but so savage that no one can approach her cage. Rachel, who loves all animals but especially dogs, volunteers at the animal shelter and immediately identifies with the stray. The teen loathes her high school filled with nasty-minded students, and doesn't get along with her well-intentioned but overanxious mother or corporate-climbing "Brad the Dad." After Rachel's language-arts teacher encourages her to expand her essay, "A Dog's Life," for a writing contest, she reluctantly becomes intrigued with the idea. Mrs. Cruzelle also asks Rachel to be writing partners with Griffin, a new boy who also writes well, and an unexpected friendship develops. They even make plans to adopt Grrl. When Rachel finds out that the dog was euthanized, she becomes wild and trashes the shelter's office. In her grief, she also alienates her friend. Rachel's first-person narrative steers around sharp turns and raw edges much like her essay, "straydog." Its unconventional punctuation and long sentences convey the writer's sorrow and rage as she struggles with estrangement and loneliness. Eventually, she realizes that she was the one who felt cornered and trapped, and begins to rebuild her relationships with Griffin and her mother. The friendship with Griffin has romantic tension, but transcends high-school stereotypes. The novella format will appeal to older readers who seek compelling stories but are overwhelmed by thick books.-Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.