Whenever my friend Andrea writes e-mails to me, she types random subject lines. The one yesterday was “red star. . .something” (it’s at work, so I can’t look it up).

That reminded me of my favorite book when I was in fifth and sixth grade, besides “A Wrinkle In Time, that is. THAT’S been my favorite book for as long as I can remember. But the red star thing reminded me of the book “Dogsbody”, by Diana Wynne Jones. The word ‘dogsbody’ is a British slang word for a person who has to do all the thankless work. Not necessarily a servant, and not necessarily an assistant, but somewhere between the two.

I’m gonna try to describe the story, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it justice. :)

There are all these stars, okay, and they have personalities. One of them, Sirius (you know, the Dog Star) is on trial, and he gets charged with acting recklessly or something, and as punishment he gets sent to Earth to retrieve this asteroid thingy that he lost in a fit of rage (the asteroid has special powers). The trial involves his girlfriend somehow, and how she’s taken up with another star, so he flew into a rage and did something regrettable with the asteroid. The catch is that he’s sent to Earth IN THE FORM OF A DOG, see? So he can’t talk or make his mission known to anyone. He has to muddle through life with the limitations of a dog’s body, but his mind is still perfectly functional.

So this girl takes him in, and she can tell that there’s something special about him, but of course she has no way of knowing that he’s really a STAR, sent to earth to retrieve this asteroid. Oh, that’s right. . .his eyes are a strange color of green, and when he’s angry they blaze in an unusual way. . .

There are certain times, like maybe a full moon (?), when he can turn back into a star again and communicate with the ones who sent him to earth, and report on his progress toward finding the asteroid. It’s called the Zoi, by the way.

As if I’m ever getting another date after THIS blog! :)

Okay, Ms. Jones, I’m just going to stop butchering your poor book now, and I’m going to have to go find it and read it again. It was actually reprinted a few years ago, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

I’ll have to write a new blog–one that does it justice!–after I actually get a chance to re-read the book. Maybe you should read it and let me know what you think? I mean, it’s a kids’ book, so it’ll be an easy read. Next time you go to the beach, go grab it.

What was YOUR favorite book when you were ten?