“Darling: Mercy Dog of World War I,” by Alison Hart, illustrated by Michael G. Montgomery.
Peachtree Press, Atlanta, 2013, 163 pages, 3-5.
It is an old adage that a dog is man’s best friend. Why is this so, and why are readers so interested in dog stories? The answer seems to be that dogs and people seem to frequently form a bond of affection and friendship. Whereas cats are friendly to people when they desire it, dogs continually want to be around people. This makes them “man’s best friend.”
Alison Hart has written an interesting story about a dog that is drafted into the British Army and serves on the Western Front during World War I. Though the novel is historical fiction, it is based on a canine corps that actually served with the British soldiers during the fiercest battles of the war. The name of this fine book is “Darling: Mercy Dog of World War I.”
Darling lives in a small British village while World War I is raging. Many of the men have already been drafted and the casualty rates are horrendous. The country is on a war regimen with food and fuel rationing. Darling still lives a carefree life of chasing sheep, running away, and playing with the children of her family, Katherine and Robert. All of this begins to change when the father of the family joins the British Army and is sent to the fighting in France.
On one of her escapades, Darling plays a game and hides by a British Army camp. Stray dogs are being shot in England because of the food shortages, so the British soldiers don’t quite know what to do with Darling. One soldier decides that Darling should be drafted into the army and serve in the newly-formed canine corps. With this, Darling is in the army now.
After weeks of training, the dog handlers decide that Darling is best suited to the dangerous task of finding wounded soldiers in No Man’s Land. These dogs are called Mercy Dogs and wear a Red Cross across their shoulders. No Man’s Land is the area between the British and German trenches and can range from a few hundred yards wide to a half a mile. It is filled with barbed wire, land mines and artillery pot holes. Soldiers caught in No Man’s Land are usually killed, but the wounded will often lay there in great suffering.
Since it is so dangerous to raise one’s head over the top of the trench, the British have trained Mercy Dogs to go into No Man’s Land and find the wounded. After finding the wounded, the dogs then run back to the British lines and lead the stretcher bearers back to the wounded soldier. Needless to say, many times the stretcher bearers and the dogs become causalities in No Man’s Land.
After one terrible battle, the English soldiers know that a badly wounded man is lying in No Man’s Land. They can’t get to him. Darling’s dog handler looks at his little dog straining at the leash to go into No Man’s Land and find the wounded soldier. He unsnaps the leash and Darling bolts over the top and through the barbed wire. She is on a mission.
What happens to Darling? Does she find the wounded soldier? How do they get the soldier out of No Man’s Land? Are there more causalities during the relief mission? Why does Darling come back dragging her leg? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and read this exciting book, “Darling: Mercy Dog of World War I.”
Alison Hart is an outstanding writer of adolescent fiction. This excellent story is one book in a series named “The Dog Chronicles.” I hope you encourage your middle grade students to read this book. I loved it and think they will too. Enjoy!
