Elf Dog and Owl Head

A summer spent sharing the family computer with his annoying sisters, trying to tune out his parents' financial worries, and video-calling with his friends. That's what Clay has to look forward to during that first summer of the sickness all over the world. But one day, in the woods, everything changes.

From the moment he sees the peculiar young dog with the fancy collar, Clay knows there's something special about her. There are other things in the woods, too—beautiful, ancient things, tucked in the invisible folds of the forest, where reality ripples and other worlds can be glimpsed. But as Clay and his mysterious dog explore day after day, Clay comes to realize that the woods also hold secrets and traps and things to be scared of. If he's not careful, Clay might just step off the path and never find his way back.

From National Book Award winner and acclaimed author M. T. Anderson comes this classic adventure story, gorgeously illustrated with Junyi Wu's stark, evocative art. Richly imaginative and brimming with emotion, Elf Dog and Owl Head reminds us that we never know what's just around the next bend in the forest path.

—from the dust jacket

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My daughter and I have been reading through the 2024 Newbery Honor Books. She read through Mexikid (a graphic novel) alone, then we read Simon Sort of Says, which was a slow start for us, but we finally really got into it. This one, Elf Dog and Owl Head, was the opposite: we enjoyed it from the first page, and we stayed hooked throughout, finishing it in 4-5 sittings (that's really fast for us).

Set in what is essentially the Covid years (though the "sickness" is never named), young Clay is stuck at home with his parents and two sisters, DiRossi (a moody older sibling) and Juniper (an annoying younger one). He is not looking forward to summer until he encounters an unusual dog in the woods behind their home. But even more unusual than the elegant dog are the things he begins to experience while exploring with her.

Though he does not yet know it, she is an Elf-hound, owned by the People Under the Mountain and trained to travel the paths between worlds, but trapped outside of her home. While she is trying to find her way back, he is excited to adopt a friendly pet, and she slowly learns to trust and love him. With her, he discovers a sleeping giant, a deserted tower, a ring of strange boulders—and befriends Amos, an old-fashioned, owl-headed boy from another world.

But interactions between worlds are unwelcome, and Clay slowly realizes they can be quite dangerous for humans. These dangers come to a head on Midsummer's Eve, when people from various worlds come together in the woods for the biggest party of the year.

While this book falls prey to a couple of common problems—conflict and attitude between siblings, and a level of disobedience of authority—we were generally pleased with how they were resolved. The siblings and parents draw closer throughout the book, and the disobedience has real consequences felt by everyone, giving the book a bittersweet ending...but this is not a dead dog book!

As a Newbery Honor Book, I expected imaginative and clever writing, and this book did not disappoint! It flowed really well, included plenty of humor, did not feel derivative, and the story arc was a lot of fun.