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Yipe,: The story of a farm dog
Child's dog story.
112 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1955
2 people want to read
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April 7, 2024
Really liked his other book 'Farm Dog' so rushed out to get this book. Published in 1955. I really enjoyed this book too but not for everyone. The dog starts off as a city dog and then gets abandoned and is adopted by a couple who own a farm. This book isn't as brutal as the other one, but there still is some killing, but this time of mice.
The dog's original owners live in the city but have chickens. It is there the dog learns to kill mice. Unfortunately, it gets a taste of how good raw eggs are. This is what they do:
'The man drove. The woman held the dog on her lap. All the time she kept feeding Spot Cracker Jacks. Miles out of town the man stopped the car and took the dog away from the woman. He pushed the dog out, closed the door, and drove away.
The dog ran after the car.
The woman made the man stop. This time she got out. She gave the dog a half-full box of the candy popcorn. While the dog was eating, the man and the woman drove away.'
So the dog:
'She went back to her box of Cracker Jacks, She did Not want to eat. She was sick of candy. The box had the woman’s smell on it, so the little dog carried, the Cracker Jack box into a tile storm-drain in the ditch.'
The farmer and his wife see him and give him some food. Then they call the dog with a whistle to follow them home and live with them:
'The man whistled softly, a high, rising, “Where’s my dog?"whistle.
“Yipe!” answered the dog. “Here I am!” it was more of a squeak than a bark. She jumped up and down and wagged her body. She ran around them and barked. She ran ahead of them, toward their house, which was hidden in the trees. She rushed back to run more circles around them. “Yipe, yipe, yipe, yipe.”'
They go back to see what the dog was guarding and find the Cracker Jack box. They speculate on why it is important to the dog:
'The woman said, “Tt’s a box she was guarding because it came from her owner. It fell from an automobile and Yipe jumped out to save it and they drove away without knowing. This empty box was all she had left of the little child she used to live with.”'
Once the dog realizes he has new people who care for him he no longer cares about the Cracker Jack box. Love it when dogs are happy:
'Yipe’s great joy was to do what her master or her mistress wanted her to do. She was always waiting for a whistle or a call. She always came when called. Better than food, better than hunting mice, better than playing catch with her old tennis ball, Yipe liked to do what her people asked her to do. Sometimes she did not understand their words, but she lived to Please her people.'
Yipe's job is to kill mice, and this bit explains why it is important:
'When mice, snug in their nests, grew thirsty, they could gnaw the sweet roots of the apple trees. Sharp little teeth would cut the bark around the living roots. The roots would bleed apple-flavored sap. Warm in their nests of fur and milkweed down, field mice chewed their seeds and did not have to venture far for a drink from an apple-tree root.
The bleeding apple-tree roots grew weak and died in the winter. When spring came, the apple-tree branches above ground in the warm air would call for sap. Dead roots could send up no sap. If enough of the roots had been gnawed, the branches too would die. The tree would have been killed by field mice nesting among its roots.'
Yipe has puppies and later there is a conflict with one of the puppies, but there is no Kleenex needed in the book. The book is also illustrated and I especially liked the pictures of puppies. So I enjoyed the book and think it would be good for youth and discussions on some of the elements, but may not be for the sensitive.
The dog's original owners live in the city but have chickens. It is there the dog learns to kill mice. Unfortunately, it gets a taste of how good raw eggs are. This is what they do:
'The man drove. The woman held the dog on her lap. All the time she kept feeding Spot Cracker Jacks. Miles out of town the man stopped the car and took the dog away from the woman. He pushed the dog out, closed the door, and drove away.
The dog ran after the car.
The woman made the man stop. This time she got out. She gave the dog a half-full box of the candy popcorn. While the dog was eating, the man and the woman drove away.'
So the dog:
'She went back to her box of Cracker Jacks, She did Not want to eat. She was sick of candy. The box had the woman’s smell on it, so the little dog carried, the Cracker Jack box into a tile storm-drain in the ditch.'
The farmer and his wife see him and give him some food. Then they call the dog with a whistle to follow them home and live with them:
'The man whistled softly, a high, rising, “Where’s my dog?"whistle.
“Yipe!” answered the dog. “Here I am!” it was more of a squeak than a bark. She jumped up and down and wagged her body. She ran around them and barked. She ran ahead of them, toward their house, which was hidden in the trees. She rushed back to run more circles around them. “Yipe, yipe, yipe, yipe.”'
They go back to see what the dog was guarding and find the Cracker Jack box. They speculate on why it is important to the dog:
'The woman said, “Tt’s a box she was guarding because it came from her owner. It fell from an automobile and Yipe jumped out to save it and they drove away without knowing. This empty box was all she had left of the little child she used to live with.”'
Once the dog realizes he has new people who care for him he no longer cares about the Cracker Jack box. Love it when dogs are happy:
'Yipe’s great joy was to do what her master or her mistress wanted her to do. She was always waiting for a whistle or a call. She always came when called. Better than food, better than hunting mice, better than playing catch with her old tennis ball, Yipe liked to do what her people asked her to do. Sometimes she did not understand their words, but she lived to Please her people.'
Yipe's job is to kill mice, and this bit explains why it is important:
'When mice, snug in their nests, grew thirsty, they could gnaw the sweet roots of the apple trees. Sharp little teeth would cut the bark around the living roots. The roots would bleed apple-flavored sap. Warm in their nests of fur and milkweed down, field mice chewed their seeds and did not have to venture far for a drink from an apple-tree root.
The bleeding apple-tree roots grew weak and died in the winter. When spring came, the apple-tree branches above ground in the warm air would call for sap. Dead roots could send up no sap. If enough of the roots had been gnawed, the branches too would die. The tree would have been killed by field mice nesting among its roots.'
Yipe has puppies and later there is a conflict with one of the puppies, but there is no Kleenex needed in the book. The book is also illustrated and I especially liked the pictures of puppies. So I enjoyed the book and think it would be good for youth and discussions on some of the elements, but may not be for the sensitive.
Displaying 1 of 1 review