From the Publisher
Praise for No Better Friend: Young Readers Edition:"A riveting and highly moving dog story."—Kirkus Reviews
"An enormously readable account of animal and human companionship and survival; recommended for budding historians and fans of survival stories."
—School Library Journal
"Well-written and engaging."
—Booklist
Praise for No Better Friend:
"No Better Friend personifies the relationship we all aspire to have with our dogs, and takes us on a harrowing journey to a place and time lost in the history books. A must read for every dog or animal lover."—Robin Hutton, author of Sgt. Reckless: America's War Horse
"Robert Weintraub captures the beauty and power of friendship and loyalty between man and animal in this captivating narrative. We'd all be lucky to have a dog like Judy by our sides in our darkest times."
—Cate Lineberry, author of The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines
"This is the best dog book since the uber best-selling Marley and Me."—Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Weintraub... combines a gritty war story with a warm dog story — readers who like both will think they have gone to heaven.... Where he truly excels, though, is in finding the human dramas, some painful and some inspiring, that figured in Judy's saga."—Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
"The most inspiring true life account I've ever read of a human-animal bond."—Maureen Corrigan, NPR
"Exceptionally well researched and engaging... No Better Friend is an inspiring story, and one that both dog lovers and history buffs will embrace."—Deborah Hopkinson, BookPage
School Library Journal
02/01/2016
Gr 6–9—Weintraub's middle grade adaptation of his adult book is an almost unbelievable tale of animal survival and loyalty amid the horrors of World War II. Born in Shanghai, China, Judy the purebred pointer dog began her military career when she was adopted by a group of English sailors who took her onboard a gunboat and eventually moved her to Singapore just as World War II reached the Pacific. Judy survived sinking ships, torpedoed boats, and life on a desert island before following her human companions to a Japanese internment camp, where she met Frank Williams, a radarman in the Royal Air Force. The friendship between the two, as well as Judy's encouragement and protection of other men interned at the camp, helped raise spirits in a desperate situation. Readers will appreciate this work, which has been lovingly and engagingly adapted by Weintraub. Through accessible language, the author makes it clear that he is inferring many aspects of the narrative. Sidebars on topics such as the Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Britain, and post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers add context. Photographs are frequent, well chosen, and clearly captioned. A thorough notes section (present in the adult version) is left out. VERDICT An enormously readable account of animal and human companionship and survival; recommended for budding historians and fans of survival stories.—Kristy Pasquariello, Wellesley Free Library, MA
Kirkus Reviews
2016-02-02
Judy, an English pointer caught up in World War II, formed a solid bond with a young British airman, Frank Williams, and exhibited remarkable heroism. Judy was hated by the Japanese who ran the prison camp where she and Frank were held for over three years, so he taught her how to keep out of their sight. Yet time after time, she risked her life to protect the prisoners and is credited with saving many lives. During one harrowing episode, the ship the Japanese were using to transport the prisoners was torpedoed. Frank pushed her out a porthole and was later able to save himself. In the water, Judy dragged one drowning man after another to safety. This adaptation of the original book for adults, also titled No Better Friend (2015), includes numerous lengthy sidebars, written for the young readers' edition, that are interesting and informative but unnecessarily interrupt the flow of the narrative with an annoying frequency. More useful are the many period photographs included. The brutality—near-starvation diet, rampant disease, frequent beatings, etc.—that characterized the prisoner-of-war camps in the Pacific theater is not minimized, but the focus of the story is more on the traits that made Judy such an extraordinary and meritorious canine and the attachment that she shared with Frank. A riveting and highly moving dog story that's marred by clumsy design. (Nonfiction. 11-18)
