Lassie Come Home (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) Book

I was looking for dog 🐕 centered books and knowing all about Lassie via the TV show, movies and the general public knowledge of this "lass", but I did not expect a story so meaningful and powerful. I chose to end my yearly May reads celebrating our beloved dog, Blondie with this book.💖🐶 When I chose this book last year, I had no idea, she would not be near me as I read this but we did enjoy watching the 1943 "Lassie Come Home." based on Eric Knight's 1940 novel, a couple months before her death. I am not sure if she really even watched the TV because she generally fell asleep while we watched but I remember telling her look at Lassie on the TV. Her first encounter with a TV some 15 years ago was seeing and barking at the people on the screen. What makes Lassie extra important to me is though Blondie and Lassie are different breeds, papillons have a similar face to collies. The blaze and the muzzle, plus both have sable coats which are similar but in different degrees. Look at my Profile page under photos to see what I am driving at, I had many names for Blondie and Lassie Good Girl was one such nickname.



MGM had an all star cast, Roddy McDowell, Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gween, Elizabeth Taylor and dog star, Pal. The movie stayed close to the book but as always you can get more from written words than acting them out. In the book Lassie never became like a human and talked but the narrator could see the reasoning and tell us readers. Knight brought out many thoughts and sentiments of the people Lassie meet in her travels.

1) In this Kindle edition, which is wonderful for students because it gives a extra materials; history of the author, analysis of the book and characters, a quick quiz and a glossary. As I read this story I found a theme more than just a dog's love for a boy but the author's commentary about World War 1. This was not going into politics but brought up the loss of a soldier, and how loved ones has to deal with this grief and also how a soldier returning home is effected in his thinking and being different after that experience. The older couple who takes care of Lassie remembers their son not being home because he was killed in action and the loss felt of his presence. The scene where two men, one younger having been in the war and one older who had not seen active combat. The young man sees the dogs fight with Lassie and it brings up memories of what he saw in the war. He had tried to tell his feelings about killing to the older man who did not see the difference in killing but to just kill without thinking because Lassie was there near the sheep and nothing else but that. The young man wanted proof before doing away with a life. These examples showed me that this author had in some way been effected by killing and the war.


"I were thinking o' March - March i' 1918, Andrew, when they come over us - and the regiment stood. It were like that, Andrew, yon collie. She fought the same way the Black Watch did, Andrew. I' March, back i' 1918'"



When I finished and read the author's information, this was confirmed and it told of this man's life which was very remarkable IMO. The story had become a favorite enough for my ultimate favorite shelf in Goodreads but this section was a wonderful addition.



These next three quotes are from the author's profile section.


"The coming of the First World War in 1914 changed all his plans. America didn't take part in the war until 1917, but Canada, being at that time a dominion of the British Empire, was involved from the start. Eric, who wanted to serve, travelled north to Canada and enlisted with the Canadian Light Infantry. He saw extensive action during the war - and fought in the Battle of the Somme, a five-month battle in 1916 in which more than a million men were wounded or killed. In 1918, his brothers were killed while fighting in Ypres."


"But with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Eric was keen to serve - just as he had done in the First World War, twenty-five years earlier. By this time, he was in his forties and deemed too old for active service by the British military, but the American government recruited him to work in Intelligence. "

"But Eric would never know just how successful Lassie would become. On 15th January 1943, Major Eric Knight was posted to Cairo. The plane on which he was travelling crashed in Dutch Guyana (now known as Suriname) on the north-eastern coast of South America, killing everyone aboard."



So we see how Eric Knight not only thought about life via his book but how he lived by a noble code which brought grandeur being in his actions.


2) The poverty and loss of a community source of wealth for its people is shown in the decisions made which would be tough on the whole family. In the author's profile, you see how Knight's life had experienced poverty and family troubles.


3) The learning of how a dog responds after life has been so changed and how his instincts had to adapt to the changing circumstances. When he could trust all men but soon found out that there are men not to be trusted but avoided. How some are kind and understanding to others both dog/human where others are not kind but mean and uncaring. It shows how life effects reactions in dogs and humans.


4) The cruelty of man to not only dogs but other men. The robbers attacking the peddler and the dog, Toots helping his master during the alteration.


Eric Knight besides writing owned a farm in Pennsylvania, he had collies which he raised and had a favorite named Toots.

"There was one collie above all that influenced Lassie Come-Home - his own dog, Toots. Speaking in 1972, Jere Knight said, "She was the most warm, the most loyal, the most loving, devoted dog… She simply would not leave where we were."





All these points had me loving this thoughtful and heart warming story which was grand enough being a dog lover that I am in the loving dog feeling the urge/need to go home but it was much more to me. There are points not told but if you read this story you will see how wonderful, Knight was as an author.


The story in short - Lassie must be sold for times are tough and though someone's dog now, his love for his boy needs him to go home despite any hardship.




I enjoyed my May dog reads and how each other used different ways to communicate their stories, either with talking dogs or dogs where a narrator tells a dog's thoughts through his actions. All forms are wonderful and I look forward to next year's pup reads! 🐕🐕🐕💖💖💖

I am hoping more of Eric Knight's books come to Kindle!!!


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When Toots dies in both the movie and in the book I cried and it was one of the saddest parts for me. I loved the father's honesty but skirting it a tad in changing Lassie to look different to confuse the Duke, it seemed the only way to go, besides the Duke was not fooled but amazed at Lassie traveling all those miles from Scotland to back home.