Review #13: Night of the Howling Dogs

Review:  Night of the Howling Dogs

Bibliography

Salisbury, Graham.  2007.  NIGHT OF THE HOWLING DOGS.  New York:  Random House.  ISBN 9780385901468

Summary

In 1975 Dylan and his fellow Boy Scouts on the Big Island of Hawaii go camping on an isolated section of coast.  There they are joined by a group of paniolos—native Hawaiian cowboys—who have ridden to the area to go fishing.  During the night an earthquake and tidal wave strike the area and turn the camping trip into a struggle for survival.

Analysis

This is primarily an old-fashioned, straightforward adventure narrative, based on an actual 1975 incident in which the author’s cousin participated.  Told in the first person, it has a believable narrative voice and details that give a strong sense of place, period, and culture and speech of the time.  These elements are well-integrated into the story so that they do not hold up the movement of the plot.  An early element of foreboding (the strange howling dogs) helps the reader to keep the pages turning through the initial gradual buildup of the situation and characters until the climactic disaster and its aftermath.  The actual disaster is vividly described.

There is a good balance of humor, incident, and characterization.  The main characters are well-drawn.  Young readers should have little trouble identifying with the boys in the story.  The character of Louie—a troublemaker from a deeply troubled background who rises to the emergency and shows his good qualities—is a familiar figure in juvenile fiction, but is handled in a way that makes him seem believable and human.

This is a good “boy” book about youths facing challenges and rising to the occasion, written in a way that makes the story a fairly easy yet thoughtful read.

Review Excerpts

“Salisbury weaves Hawaiian legend into the modern-day narrative to create a haunting, unusual novel that will practically booktalk itself.”  Booklist

“Like any good survival story, this will make readers ponder what they would do when survival is on the line.  A sure-fire literary thriller.”  Kirkus

Connections

The major event of the story is the sudden arrival of a tsunami, or “tidal wave.”  Describe to students what causes tsunamis.  Talk about other real-life tsunamis, such as the ones caused by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, the 2004 tsunami, and the 2011 Japanese earthquake.

Some characters in the story believed that the wild dogs were incarnations of the Hawaiian goddess Pele.  Talk about this and other traditional Hawaiian legends.