Lara's Gift

Starred review from September 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Lara Ivanova Bogdanova loves the borzoi, the dogs her father breeds on the Count's estate in imperial Russia. Training and caring for the animals alongside her father, she dreams of following him as kennel steward. Then her baby brother is born, and she is devastated when her father determines that she will marry instead. But visions regarding the dogs still come to her despite her father's demand that she stop them. She knows that Zar, the runt she saved from death despite her father's disapproval, has an important part to play in hunting the wolves that plague the estate if only her father would give him a chance. The story develops beautifully from Lara's saving Zar and moves swiftly through the conflicts between Lara and her father as well as the confrontations between Zar and the wolves. Lara bravely steps forward to fight for her dreams in an era in which women were seen as fit only to be wives and mothers, seamstresses and midwives. Birth and fight scenes are handled realistically and factually. The imagery creates a vivid sense of time and place. Compelling historical fiction, this is also a powerful story about the bond between dogs and humans, fathers and daughters. The author's note explains how the story came to be written and which minor aspects of the time and place were adapted to fit it.-Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 Lara revels in her gift for handling the elegant borzoi hunting dogs bred and trained for Russian nobility. A peasant girl like me may never get an opportunity to lay her eyes on a borzoi and I had dozens around me, she muses. Lara hopes to follow her father as kennel master, a decidedly nontraditional female role, until her baby brother is born, dashing Lara's hopes and setting the stage for the battle to realize her dream. O'Brien has penned a lively tale of beloved dogs and graphic wolf-hunting escapades in a unique historical setting. Lara's supernatural visions of dog-related calamities frighten her, but she summons enough courage to challenge her father's decisions on hunts; test the champion hunting ability of her little wonder dog, whom she rescued from being culled at birth; and prove her worth on the grand Russian estate. Dog lovers especially will pick up this trail right away and eagerly track the appealing heroine's adventures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
In Tsarist Russia, fourteen-year-old Lara hopes to become the Count's kennel steward and breed champion borzoi like her father, but a new baby brother ends her dreams. Lara and her dog Ryczar fight a predatory wolf in an attempt to regain her place. Low tension keeps the plot tame, though Lara's visions add a fantasy element to this peek into a different time.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)