Whippoorwill

“Unexpected, generous, and poignant.”  —Huntley Fitzpatrick, author of What I Thought Was True 

Sixteen-year-old Clair Taylor has neighbors who are what locals call whippoorwills, the kind of people who fill their yards with rusty junk. Clair tries to ignore her surroundings, choosing instead to dream of a future beyond her rural New Hampshire town. But, when a black dog named Wally is chained up to a pole next door, Clair can’t look the other way. Clair decides to save Wally, and the immediate connection she has with the lovable dog catches her off-guard, but even more surprising is her bond with eighteen-year-old Danny Stewart, the boy next door.

* "Narrator Clair is absolutely believable as the girl who’s stable yet also negotiating her own loss." 

—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review 

“An unexpected, generous and poignant portrait of a girl, a boy, and the dog who brings them together.” 

—Huntley Fitzpatrick, author of What I Thought Was True 

"Masterful! Heartwarming! I read it in one sitting. I could not put it down. One of the best YA novels I have read in years." 

—Roland Smith, bestselling author of Peak 

“Destined to become a classic. . . Whippoorwill is about the love and care and neglect and magical inter-species connections between an animal and members of a family, and it will both devastate and transform you. I love this book.” 

—Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Lemon Orchard 

“A bighearted, gorgeous, timely champion for empathy, kindness, and common courtesy.” 

—Matthew Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock 

"Whippoorwill is an invitation to walk a mile in Wally's paws, and discover that sometimes there are strays of the human variety—and they, too, need love, compassion, and, most importantly, trust." 

—Jennifer Brown, author of Torn Away 

"A sweet story about a lucky dog that reveals itself to be a deeper story about a lucky human." 

—Kirkus 

* "The narrative adeptly portrays longing and belonging, and the heartbreak and hope of not only the human condition but the canine one as well. Monninger revitalizes the boy-and-dog trope in this sweet novel." 

—School Library Journal, starred review 

"A sweet, melancholy read for those whom a dog holds a special place in their hearts, and who might just wonder: in dog-human relationships, who rescues whom?" 

—Booklist 

“Recalls William H. Armstrong’s Sounder, Wilson Rawls’s Where the Red Fern Grows, and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Shiloh. . . [it] will resonate most with animal lovers (I count myself among them), and readers who consider tears signs of a great ending.” 

—The Boston Globe