Elf Dog & Owl Head
Winner of a 2023 Newbery Honor
From the singular imagination of National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson comes a magical adventure about a boy and his dog—or a dog and her boy—and a forest of wonders hidden in plain sight.
Illustrated by Junyi Wu
Candlewick Press (2023)
ISBN: 9781536222814
Ages: 8–12
Resources
Clay has had his fill of home life. A global plague has brought the world to a screeching halt, and with little to look forward to but a summer of video-calling friends, vying with annoying sisters for the family computer, and tuning out his parents’ financial worries, he’s only too happy to retreat to the woods. From the moment the elegant little dog with the ornate collar appears like an apparition among the trees, Clay sees something uncanny in her. With this mysterious Elphinore as guide, he’ll glimpse ancient secrets folded all but invisibly into the forest. Each day the dog leads Clay down paths he never knew existed, deeper into the unknown. But they aren’t alone in their surreal adventures. There are traps and terrors in the woods, too, and if Clay isn’t careful, he might stray off the path and lose his way forever. Graced with evocative black-and-white illustrations by Junyi Wu, Elf Dog and Owl Head is heartfelt and exhilarating, wry and poignant, seamlessly merging the fantastic and the familiar in a tale both timely and timeless.
Reviews
“Anderson writes as eloquently about the joys of reality as he does about the Otherworld, and he makes the case, without straining, that mundanity has its own magic.” — New York Times
“[A] sparkling fantasy by the ever-inventive M.T. Anderson.” — Wall Street Journal
★ “A hilarious, heartfelt triumph.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Anderson expertly balances the anguish of pandemic-era isolation with the transporting joys of new friendships.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
"This playful romp pulls magic into the mundane and gives regular kids the chance to be heroes." — Booklist
“Impressive.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"Themes of the unbreakable bonds of friendship, sibling relationships, the love between a boy and his dog, and the triumph of good over evil play out in this page-turner of a novel….Students will be drawn to this clever, magical novel." — School Library Connection
"Young readers will connect with a boy’s close bond with his dog and they’ll empathize with his struggles to save it." — YA Books Central
“It is not hyperbole to say that M. T. Anderson is one of the greatest living writers, in any genre and for every age group. It might even be an understatement.” — Adam Gidwitz (Newbery Honor-winner for The Inquisitor’s Tale)
“Delightful, amusing, and imaginative! Elf Dog & Owl Head proves that great stories are good medicine.” — Cynthia Leitich Smith, best-selling author of Sisters of the Neversea