Joe and his father took the dog back again. The next day, Lassie escaped again and was waiting for Joe at his school, as she was on every other school day. The Duke's hired hand came to retrieve Lassie and took her back to the Duke's kennel. Lassie escaped from the kennel and ran back home to Joe. The Duke lived three miles away from Joe's family's home. Joe's father had lost his job in the coal mine, and the family was in dire need of the money gained from the sale of their dog. Without telling Joe, his father sold Lassie to a Duke who had a kennel full of champion dogs. Susan Jeffers's delightful illustrations add even more emotional depth to the story because they depict the bond between Joe, the young protagonist, and Lassie, his family's champion dog. The story is touching, heartwrenching, and engaging all at the same time. When I saw it was an adaptation of Eric Knight's original short story from 1938 written by one of my favorite children's authors, Rosemary Wells, I knew I wanted to read it and share it here for Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. This book was the only Lassie book I could find on the shelf at our branch.
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