A special book to be enjoyed by a child and their reader ( )

Beautifully written story of a young Hispanic shepherd and his grandfather. The boy learns to hear the different meanings of the coyote's cry through his life and death experiences caring for the sheep and their sheepdog's puppies.

Interesting to see Baylor doing a chapter book, and without [a:Peter Parnall|213162|Peter Parnall|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-347709e8e0c4cd87940bf10aebee7a1c.jpg] as the illustrator. I did enjoy the writing and the concept of this fable and the lovely pictures, but I can't give it four stars. The thing is, the message really only is effective is one can believe the incidents could really happen to these shepherds,* and I just can't. There should be a reprint, with an author's note about the incidents if they were real, or about the inspiration if they weren't.


*No, it's not a metaphor on the shepherds of the infant Jesus. ( )