A Dog Called Kitty

by Bill Wallace

The puppy was small and fuzzy, with a friendly, wagging tail -- and Ricky was afraid of him!
No wonder, since he was attacked by a dog when he was just a baby. So when a stray puppy comes sniffling around the farm, Ricky tells it to get lost.
But the puppy keeps trying to play with Ricky. And every time Ricky's Mom feeds the cats, the little dog comes running. The cats aren't sharing their food, however, and the poor pup is slowly starving.
If Ricky doesn't overcome his fear, the little puppy may die -- but if he lets himself get close enough to feed it, he may find the best friend he's ever had!
Winner of the Texas Bluebonnet, the Oklahoma Sequoyah and the Nebraska Golden Sower Awards.

Genres: Animals, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Dogs, Young Adult

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1980

About the author

Bill Wallace was an American teacher and later an author of children's books. He started writing to quiet down his fourth grade students, who loved his stories and encouraged him to make “real” books.

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun.

Bill Wallace has won numerous children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Bill Wallace died from Lung cancer on January 30, 2012.

Former elementary school teacher; West Elementary School, Chickasha, OK, principal, since 1977, and physical education teacher. Speaker at schools and universities in various states, including State University of New York and University of South Florida.

AWARDS:

Bluebonnet Award from Texas Association of School Librarians and Children's Round Table and Sequoyah Children's Book Award from Oklahoma State Department of Education, both 1983, Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Nebraska Golden Sowers Award from Nebraska Library Association, 1985, all for A Dog Called Kitty; Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Pine Tree Book Award, 1985, both for Trapped in Death Cave.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Several things bothered me in this story...
1st - the dad: the first scene sets him up as extremely cruel (moving away and taking the kids, leaving mom behind) but the rest of the time he only seemed to laugh. The kid was scared of him, but except for one mention of not wanting him to remove his belt, there is no development of the potential abuse. But it must be there because...
2nd - the kid beats up a bully? And basically blacks out doing it? ("I don't remember what happened") and
3rd - he's actually very cruel to the puppy
4th - horrid descriptions of a dog fight
5th - when you expect the happy ending because they survived the fight, a load of pipes falls on the pup and kills him. REALLY?!??!

It just seemed overly sensationalistic and tried to pull on every emotion to get the reader to cry.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so well-written I probably would have rated it four stars if not for two things. One, the parents. Moving your entire family out to another state with absolutely no warning or discussion with your wife is a jerk move, 'Dad,' and treating your son as if he's a useless coward because he's afraid of dogs, particularly when he had a traumatic experience with one, is just mean. The other thing is the ending. I can't stand 'kill the dog just to give the kid a replacement who's exactly like the original dog' stories. Otherwise, it was a good story I quite enjoyed.

[Liberty {LittyLibby} · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I wanted to reread this special book from my childhood. This is the first book I bought at a scholastic Book Fair, obviously, because of the puppy on the cover. I remember that feeling, purchasing my first book, taking it home, hugging it against my chest, reading it and crying and crying and crying. Every time this book comes into my bookstore I hug it to my chest and remember second grade me. She has such fond memories of this book. But 45-year-old me didn't feel the same about it, and it's just one of those sad realities that books we read as children don't hold up over time. It's okay though, I can see what second grade me saw in this book, and why it affected her so deeply. Plus don't we all have a memory of the first book we bought at a scholastic book fair?

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because I'm a dog lover and i think Bill Wallace is a great author. This book is of a boy who hates dogs ever since he was attacked by one. Even though the puppy is tiny and skinny, with sad brown eyes and a friendly, wagging tail, Rick(the boy) doesn't want it hanging around the farm.The barn cats hate to share food with the puppy and it looks as if the puppy will starve to death unless someone comes to rescue. Ricky may be afraid of dog, but he doesn't want to see one starve.He will feed the puppy and then run away when the puppy gets his strength back But this puppy has other ideas. Can Ricky overcome his fears and find himself the best friend he's ever had?Only Ricky can save the life of a puppy he doesn't even want!

[Book2Dragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely YA or pre-teen book. About gaining courage to face fears, and about a little stray puppy and the love he shares with a boy. Some cliff hangers and some tears, but a good book.

[African Fairy · Rating 1 out of 5]

My goodness! I read this book YEARS AGO but I will never forget how it made me feel. I scoured through the internet almost writing the whole plot of the book so I could find it and say this.

SPOILERS!!!

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY UNFAIR AND CRUEL READ!
As a child, I absolutely loved the bond that Billy and Kitty shared. The emotional trauma that Billy went through made my heart ache and then he found Kitty, the cute starving dog, and his life changed. Such a cute and loving story, I wished I was part of it.

They went through so much and survived incredibly dangerous events together and just when I thought it would wrap up nicely... THE DOG DIES!!!!

Mind you, Billy and Kitty had just battled WILD DOGS in the woods. I repeat, a child and a little dog, fought wild dogs and SURVIVED... only for Kitty to die at the very last page of the book because... wait for it... PIPES FELL ON HIM??!

I want my childhood back
I want my sanity back
I want the days I spent falling in love with Kitty and Billy and their relationship back!!!

This would have been an easy 5 star children's book but the unnecessary cruel ending chucks it down to 0.5 ⭐️'s.

Just talking about it brings back the trauma.

[Natalia Leigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was extremely disappointed by this book. I'm an English tutor and my student chose this book for us to read together, but had I known what was in store I would have selected something else. To begin with, the grammar is terrible. Fragmented sentences completely threw off the flow of our reading, which my student already struggles with. In addition to its poor structure, I found the story extremely violent and was concerned by what these "children's books" are teaching the youth. For example, the main character, Ricky, almost lets the dog, Kitty, starve to death in the beginning. Rather than feed the starving pup, he thinks it would be best to let the dog die. Throughout the book Ricky continually insults and threatens his dog, calling him a "coward" and saying he'll "smash his head with a rock". The main character is extremely violent and shows very little regard for the dog as a creature that is to be loved and respected.

On the topic of dogs, I was also disturbed by the fact that this book fed into the mania and panic surrounding certain dog breeds, specifically German Shepherds and Dobermans. They were characterized as vicious, bloodthirsty monsters and painted as the villains. I have worked with dogs professionally for years and have come across aggressive dogs of all breeds, as well as dogs characterized as "dangerous" that posed no such threat.

Is this what we want to teach our children - to be aggressive to other living creatures and to find humor and entertainment in violence? I will never pick up a Bill Wallace again, nor will I read them with any of my students.

[Jenni Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow, this was my most favorite book when I was a kid! I must have read this book literally HUNDREDS of times growing up. I remember I had an autographed copy of the hardcover edition. I obtained it when I met Mr. Wallace when he came to my school when I was in third or fourth grade. I think it had just been published. This book was the beginning of my love affair with reading. Thinking about it, I am now sad that I don't know what happened to my autographed copy.

I very highly recommend this book to anyone. Parents, this is a safe book for your kids to read but I will warn you, it deals with some very tough and emotional issues (fear, loss etc.). I remember crying near the end of it every single time I read it. But, I wouldn't trade the experience of reading this for the world.

[Leah Andrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Dog Called Kitty is the first "novel" I ever read. I was in the second grade and I remember balling my head off over Kitty's death while sitting in the bathtub. It was definitely an eye-opening experience. To be completely honest, it's been far too long for me to give this book an accurate rating, but after 20+ years the fact that I still remember reading this book as well as several specific scenes is enough for me to give it 5 stars. This book helped to create in me a love for reading.

[Lanee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter got this book from the library and I had to reread it. It was my favorite book when I was her age and it still made me laugh and cry like it did back then. Such a great book!

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first review was just the tiniest bit too generous, but overall, this is a decent book.

First review
This book was so well-written I probably would have rated it four stars if not for two things. One, the parents. Moving your entire family out to another state with absolutely no warning or discussion with your wife is a jerk move, 'Dad,' and treating your son as if he's a useless coward because he's afraid of dogs, particularly when he had a traumatic experience with one, is just mean. The other thing is the ending. I can't stand 'kill the dog just to give the kid a replacement who's exactly like the original dog' stories. Otherwise, it was a good story I quite enjoyed.

[Marlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to my 9 and 6 year olds. My 6 year old wanted to read it because of the title. She didn't end up liking it at all and stopped listening before we finished. I didn't like it either. Though I realize it is told by a child, the grammar is so awful that if I didn't edit it as I read, neither of my children could understand what Rickey was saying. Also, most of the relationships in the story are somewhat dysfunctional and almost frightening. Things that were meant to be completely normal were quite appalling to me. My older child did like this book. He found some of it funny in the middle, and he liked the very end.

[Sarah Maddaford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been a lot better if it had been one of the few where the dog doesn't die. There are several really great scenes where Kitty helps Rick overcome his fear of dogs including really big, mean dogs. The story even circles back to the second encounter Rick has with a dog to prove that he isn't too scared to stand up for someone anymore. It's a good lesson, but it could have ended without Kitty dying in my opinion.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book as a kid and remembered loving it so I was excited when I stumbled upon it and decided to read it to my kids. Terrible idea!

This book is pretty awful. There’s really not a redeeming lesson in it or anything of value just trauma. The graphic descriptions of violence are a little much for such a young reader. Def wouldn’t recommend.

[Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this book!

[Jeanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's good to go back to your childhood.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was surprisingly a book I had to request since our local library didn't have it and I find that funny since it seemed to be a big push when I was younger to read it. As a result they ended up fortunately buying it instead of me having to wait for another library to send it as an ILL.

Anyway this is one of those reads that I am kind of ambivalent around and getting a chance to re-read it after reading Bill Wallace's "Beauty" has allowed me to look at the story with different eyes. First of all there are a lot of similarities between the two stories - there is a horse named Beauty (doesn't seem to be the same although the author's horse model probably is), it takes place outside the same small Oklahoma town after the family is required to move, the main character is a boy who ends up playing football with the other community boys although the stories' protagonists don't seem to know each other and a newly made bestie who seems to have a good grasp of town life. Otherwise the stories change up from there.

This first of all is the author's first book and I found that there were a few spelling mistakes within the writing such as plumb grove and sick for sic. But otherwise they didn't take away from the story since you get the same meaning either way or at least I did.

The actual story has a weird flow to it and I think it is more or less since I feel this is a more modern re-telling of Fred Gipson's "Old Yeller". As a result a read of the two or even watching the film for those who can stomach it would show up a bunch of similarities between the two stories as well as a shared plot with some creative changes. If it wasn't for me being such a big fan of Yeller I may have enjoyed this book a bit more than I.

The characters aren't much worked on either since the focus is mostly on the boy and his development of character. So even beloved Kitty who would seem to be a main part of the story is only a ways of a mean to get the reader from point A to B. As a result of the weak fleshing out I think the secondary characters more or less are given a wrong judging for being abusive, indifferent or even non-caring in their roles but their actions otherwise suggest to me they aren't since why would an abusive parent allow their child to ignore helping out on the farm just so they can go riding all day?

All in all it is a decently good book but one that does have some questionable spots for those who are looking for trouble and some graphic points due to the Yeller-like nature of the book. As a result this book would be a better read for slightly older children who aren't easily affected by its more mature contents or a family read where an adult or two can help children to understand or talk about parts that may be confusing or questionable to help them understand them better. Otherwise if you don't mind the older age I would suggest "Old Yeller" in place of this book.

[Courtney Kleefeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. Pretty standard dog story. Potential trigger for PTSD relating to dogs and shots. The book was a little PG13 for dog fight gore in a couple places.
I liked how it portrayed anxiety/PTSD pretty accurately and how the way to cure it is slow, voluntary, safe exposure to the thing you're afraid of (especially if it's an irrational fear to some degree).
It was sad and difficult reading how his parents were not the best example of how to deal with a kid who has PTSD. Getting upset at a kid/low-key blaming him for his anxiety isn't going to help the poor kid. However, they also had good qualities as parents in that they had good wisdom to share and showed they cared about him.
It was also really refreshing to read about two boys being friends with each other and the other boy being very accepting and validating of the other boy's emotions while encouraging him.
Definitely a good book for kids to read--boys or girls--about overcoming fear and taking care of a dog.
And it takes place in Oklahoma so that's fun!

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another book in my classroom that I picked up to read over the summer. What a tear-jerker! Ricky is scared of dogs but somehow manages to develop a relationship with this abandoned puppy, and they become inseparable. Because Kitty starts off eating from the kitten bowls and starts to come running when the cats are called to dinner he earns his unusual name. Kitty and Ricky manage to survive a terrible wild dog attach in which Kitty almost dies only to a short time later being crushed by a pipe that falls on top of him. I cried. My daughter told me she read this book and it made her cry at school when she read the ending.

[Jennifer Deloera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up as a recommendation from a friend. She told me that some of the sweetest memories from childhood include her mom and her two sisters crowding in one bed before bedtime and reading a Bill Wallace book. I suspected my girls (3,4) were to young to enjoy these type of books with the absence of pictures and all but boy was I wrong. They are so excited to read another chapter. We have move on to his other books now.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a exceptionally good 'coming of age' book. There is a significant amount of joy, hope and sadness. If you are uncomfortable with emotional content, this may not be for you. However, my grandson and I both found the tale immensely meaningful. Sometimes two guys need to share an emotion...

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was--this surprised me. It actually had a lot of emotion behind it, and as far as 'late 20th century boy and his dog' books go, it's a good one.

[victoria]

Miss Jana - this was a simple delight! Thank you for this book to kick off my summer reading <3

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read to my 3rd and 4th graders

[Kiri Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

TRAUMATIC

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a tear jerker (I didn't know going into it) but a good, enjoyable read.

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible for young readers. My 9 year old reading the graphic details as a child recalls being almost mauled to death by a dog and the stitches and shots afterward had in him in tears. Then, blacking out and snapping as you fight and pummel another kid on the football field was a great addition but then having the bully sick his doberman on you was a great bedtime story. Let us not forget the thought of letting the puppy you find in a barn starve to death and die was probably the best option. Maybe the idea of watching your dog get attacked by a pack of wild animals and the graphic description of the blood pouring out of the dog and the other animals grabbing at him and trying to tear him to pieces and his guts almost hanging out appeals to some but not most small kids. Let us not forget the end when the dog and boy are friends and then the boy watches the dog get crushed to death by falling pipes makes for an awesome happy ending. While this book may have been geared toward teaching kids to overcome fear, I do not think this book should be read until children get older and can handle such graphic imagery. It's really no different than allowing your child to watch an R rated movie. This is NOT a book for small children.

[$hanel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Dog Called Kitty (a strange name for a dog but oh well) is about a 10 year old boy named Ricky who is absolutely terrified of BIG scary dogs (its OK Ricky I am too!) and has been ever since he had a extra scary dog attack he had when he was little. Ricky moves to a farm and gets settled in until he meets a innocent looking brown scruffy dog that nobody could resist! Ricky is still scared of the small puppy and the dog causes no harm especially cause he is homeless. Small scruffy brown dog begins to follow Ricky around at his farm and before Ricky knows it he is in love with the small scruffy pup and becomes his new BFF. There are many cats at Ricky`s farm that share water with the brown puppy and the sad thing is that the puppy doesnt get as much love and attention as the cats (but like I said they become BFFs!) and Ricky couldnt bare to see this little puppy starve. A very sad and touching book for all ages!

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2024

2020
This book always makes me cry. I'm such a sap for a good animal story. That being said, I did have a few issues with the book itself.

One, as a child I never picked up on this, but as an adult it boggles my mind: The dad just buys a plot of land in Oklahoma apparently without having much a discussion about it with his wife. That's just crazy to me! You are uprooting your entire family without saying a word about it to your wife? Just, how?

Two, the ending with Kitty. I have never been able to get over that. He didn't deserve that fate. I almost could have understood better if it had happened when Kitty was defending Ricky from the wild pack of dogs. But to have it happen in that way? Just cruel.

Otherwise, it's a book that I've read and kept since I was just a child, so clearly it is good enough for me to want to read every few years (haha). And it's definitely one that I will traumatize my own children with.

2015