Book Review: JESUS AND HIS DOG (NaBloPoMo Day 18)

Title: Jesus and His Dog

Author: Dick W Pine
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
Pages: 30

I found the basic premise of Jesus and His Dog by Dick W Pine strangely appealing. I use the word ‘strange’ because I am not an animal lover. And yet I found myself drawn to this book because of the expectations it raised.

Written like a story for children, the short 30-page book offers the potential of a very sweet story. It is the story of a faithful dog, Zion, who follows Jesus wherever He goes; a clever dog who puts his nose in the air and follows the scent of his Master successfully. The book casually mentions a miracle, the first, where Jesus cures the broken legs of Zion, who has just been run over by a Roman chariot. The book gains much from the full page charcoal drawings that alternate with almost every page of text. Unfortunately, all the promise of a heartwarming story for children is wrapped up in a single sentence. “For the few years that Jesus was a child, Zion enjoyed playing and living with Him.”

I was also taken aback by the opening lines of the book, in which Pine says, “Not many know the story of Jesus and His dog. I only came to discover the information by dissimulating some of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” That was a sour note for me, considering that in his references, Pine mentions the Dead Sea scrolls, Testimonia, right after the second and third chapters of the Gospel of Luke. Why then the dissimulation? Unless something was lost somewhere. Let’s blame it on the spell check.

The book would have been so much better if only Pine had used his imagination to show some playful adventures that bound the boy and the dog together. If only he had filled up the broad strokes of the Gospel passages with more affection and emotion, more fun and joy. So little is known about Jesus’ childhood that a well-told tale would have tugged at the heartstrings and made this one a favourite with kids and grownups alike.




I received a complimentary copy of Jesus and His Dog as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.