Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow

Saving Zasha, by Randi Barrow.  Scholastic, 2011, 225 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades (ages 8-10)

Recommended for: Ages 10-12

One-line Summary: In post-WWII Russia, Mikhail and his brother strive to save a German shepherd from the hatred of all things German.

Mikhail Tarkov, age 13, and his older brother Nikolai find a wounded soldier in the woods that border their farm in northern Russia and take him home to die.  Since it’s 1945 and a war has just ended, that’s a sad story but not too unusual.  But the soldier had a dog, a beautiful German shepherd named Zasha.  The whole family, including Mikhail’s mother and sister, fall in love with Zasha.  There’s a hot market for dogs at the time because most have been killed by the enemy or caught in the crossfire, but Zasha is nonetheless in danger for being a German shepherd.  The hatreds bred by war carry over to her.  Mikhail is desperate to keep her, meaning she must be kept hidden–not only from their nosy friend Katia, but also from roaming dog thieves.  All ends well when the family captures a gang of thieves, Zasha is discovered to be pregnant, and Mr. Tarkov returns home after one and a half years in a POW camp.

The story is simple and could have used a stronger sense of tension.  I also didn’t receive an especially vivid sense of time or place; there didn’t seem to be anything particularly Russian about Mikhail and his family.  Mentions of the forced starvation of the Ukraine and the government seizure of a neighbor’s farm remind us we’re in Soviet Russia.  Mikhail shows a misanthropic streak: “Animals are not our equals; they’re our superiors!” but given the savagery of the war just past, it’s not an unreasonable sentiment.  The story would fit with a World War II unit in helping to show the devastation of Europe by that conflict.  And dog-lovers won’t be disappointed.

Cautions: none

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic value: 3

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