This epic story of a lonely boy, his loyal dog, and his family's betrayal at the hands of his bitter uncle will not only haunt me for the rest of the summer, but will cause all the other books I pick up this fall to pale in comparison, I suspect. Set in a rural 1970's Wisconsin and gracefully hung on the bones of Hamlet, the story explores the inner life of mute boy Edgar Sawtelle and his amazing invented breed of near- mind-reading dog, simply called the Sawtelle dogs. Edgar's life raising and training dogs on his family's farm is idyllic until his father dies suddenly and Edgar suspects his uncle was involved. Determined to bring the man to justice, Edgar makes several crucial decisions that will change the course of his life and the fate of the Sawtelle dogs. The ending is heart-breaking, yet inevitable and in keeping with the story. Though it occasionally meandered, I always wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next, and found the prose lyrical yet accessible. Destined to be a classic.