Haas, Jessie. Shaper - Brief Article - Young Adult Review - Book Review

Kliatt, July, 2002 by Paula Rohrlick

HAAS, Jessie. Shaper. HarperCollins, Greenwillow. 186p. c2002.0-06-000170-4. $16.95. J*

When Chad's beloved dog died back in the fall, he blamed his family for their negligence, and he has been sullen and depressed ever since. He even refuses to accept the family's new dog, rambunctious Queenie. But when summer comes and a new neighbor named David who is a dog trainer moves into their rural Vermont community, 14-year-old Chad is intrigued--and strongly attracted to David's beautiful teenage daughter, Louise. David needs an assistant to help him perfect his technique of shaping animal behavior using clicker training, which relies on the power of positive reinforcement. He hires Chad and Queenie to help him in his work--but Chad finds himself wondering if it's his own behavior that's being shaped, as he begins to warm to Queenie and learns to relate to his family again.

This is much more than just a story of a boy and his dog. The information about clicker training is fascinating, and Haas, author of Unbroken and other YA novels, provides some sources of information on it hidden away on the copyright page. Beyond animal training, however, this is a tale of healing, of first love, and of learning to understand something of human psychology, too. The characters are fully realized, from Chad's stern but fiercely loving grandfather to his noisy younger brother and the lovely, clever Louise. A novel that will make readers think.