Identify These Dog Tales

Dogs have been called "man's best friend" since the 19th century. And they have proved their worth in children's books, as well. In 1903, Jack London was one of the first authors to write a young-adult novel from a dog's perspective. In 1970 and 1992, the Newbery Award was awarded to two outstanding tales about dogs. Can you identify these and other famous dog stories?

1. "The pine trees would look down forever on a lantern burning out of oil but not going out. A harvest moon would cast shadows forever of a man walking upright, his dog bouncing after him. And the quiet of the night would fill and echo again with the deep voice of S- - - - - -, the great coon dog."

2. "Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tidewater dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal.... These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost."

3. "I look at the dark sky closing in, sky getting more and more purple, and I'm thinking how nothing is as simple as you guess - not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog I got here. But the good part is I saved S- - - - - and opened my eyes some. Now that ain't bad for eleven."

4. "He was a friendly dog. There were no strangers to him. He loved everyone. Yet he was a strange dog. He would not hunt with another hound, other than Little Ann, or another hunter, not even my father. The strangest thing about Old Dan was that he would not hunt, even with me, unless Little Ann was with him. I found this out the first night I tried it."

5. "We called him O- - Y- - - - -. The name had a sort of double meaning. One part meant that his short hair was a dingy yellow, a color we called 'yeller' in those days. The other meant that when he opened his head, the sound he let out came closer to being a yell than a bark."

BONUS: "As soon as the children started to scrub, they began shouting, "Mummy! Daddy! Look, look! Come quick!" "It's Harry! It's Harry! It's Harry! they cried. Harry wagged his tail and was very, very happy. His family combed and brushed him lovingly, and he became once again a white dog with black spots."

ANSWERS

(1) "Sounder," by William H. Armstrong (1969), winner of the 1970 Newbery Award; (2) "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London (1903); (3) "Shiloh," by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1991), winner of the 1992 Newbery Award; (4) "Where The Red Fern Grows," by Wilson Rawls (1961); (5) "Old Yeller," by Fred Gipson (1956); BONUS: "Harry the Dirty Dog," by Gene Zion (1956).