Stay: the last dog in Antarctica

by Jesse Blackadder

Left alone on the streets of Hobart to collect money for the Royal Guide Dogs of Tasmania, a Labrador called Girl tries to make the best of it. Her dreams of adventure can never come true though, as she is, after all, made of fibreglass. But then one night some rowdy Antarctic expeditioners walk past her on their way to the docks and before she knows it, Girl has been dognapped, smuggled aboard the Aurora Australis, and is headed for Antarctica with her own Antarctic nickname - Stay. But the southern continent throws up more adventures than Stay could ever have imagined. She's slimed by King Neptune, picked on by the Antarctic huskies, dropped, repaired, hidden, flown, chained up, liberated, befriended, lost and betrayed. Will she ever make it back to Australia with the money she's raised for the Guide Dogs? This is the first book in a new animal series by award-winning author Jesse Blackadder and is based on the true story of Stay, who was smuggled to Antarctica in 1991 and is still having adventures there today. Ages: 9-12 (and anyone who loves Antarctica)

Genres: Childrens

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Yes, Jesse Blackadder really was born with that surname. An award-winning novelist, freelance writer and budding screenwriter, she is fascinated by landscapes, adventurous women and really cold places.

Jesse's forthcoming novel 'In the Blink of an Eye' is being published in the USA by St Martins Press in March 2019. (It was published in Australia as 'Sixty Seconds' by HarperCollins in 2017). The novel was inspired by her childhood experience of her sister's death in a swimming pool.

Jesse has recently been jointly awarded the 2018 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship to write a television series and a junior novel series set in Antarctica, in partnership with screenwriter Jane Allen. The pair will live at Mawson Station over the 2018/19 summer.

'Chasing the Light' (2013), is historical fiction based on the true but forgotten story of the first women to reach Antarctica. Jesse won her first Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship in 2011 and travelled to Antarctica to research the novel.

Jesse's novel 'The Raven's Heart', came about when she'd finally had enough of people asking if she was related to Rowan Atkinson. She travelled to Scotland to find the origins of the Blackadder surname and discovered the ruins of Blackadder House on the banks of the Blackadder River.

Her first novel, 'After the Party' (Hardie Grant Books 2005), made the Australian Book Review list of all time favourite Australian novels in 2010.

Jesse has been a writer in residence in Antarctica, Alaska, in the Australian outback at Byron Bay, and at Varuna The Writers' House, Australia's leading residential program for writers. She has a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Western Sydney. Born in Sydney, she now lives near Byron Bay on Australia's east coast.

Reviews

[Emily Wrayburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally posted on A Keyboard and an Open Mind December 11, 2017:

This was a sweet book, though to be honest, nothing stand-out, at least to me. I think it’s one of those ones that kids would really loove, but that don’t really transcend the target demographic. Which there’s nothing wrong with, really, just that it affected my enjoyment.

Stay is a fibeglass fundraising labrador, supposed to be raising money for the Royal Guide Dogs outside a supermarket in Hobart. In 1991, she was dognapped and taken to Antarctica by scientists disappointed huskies would no longer be used on the ice continent. Through Stay’s eyes, we learn what life was like for the scientists in Antarctica before the days of mobile phones and the Internet, and about the kinds of work they went down there to do every season.

I did actually like the way Jesse Blackadder turned Stay into a character in the story. Stay is able to communicate through her thoughts, sending out vibes to the humans around her. In return, they compete to have her nearby during their season down south. While some of the lengths gone to for Stay seemed a bit excessive, it did help to add tension to the plot. Blackadder weaves information about the day-to-day life of the scientists into the plot in a way that I feel would not have felt like info-dumping to a child reader, though with adult eyes, I could see the parts that were obviously intended to be educational.

I think young readers interested in exploration or the Antarctic woould definitely get something out of this book. The writing style would make for a good read-aloud-before-bed type of book.

(This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017. Click here for more information).

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an Antarctic writer- expeditioner familiar with STAY and the tall stories associated with this fibreglass donation dog, I commend Jesse Blackadder’s book as a great read. It will appeal to dog-lovers, Fantarctics (fans of Antarctica) and also to educators seeking resource material for the curriculum subject of Antarctica.

She’s also solved the fictional challenges of writing from the viewpoint of the charitable guide-dog whose role is to gather donations. The reader’s sympathy remains with the STAY character, despite sneers from the soon –to- leave huskies who regard themselves as REAL dogs.

Insight into the Antarctic workstyle and the scope of Antarctic adventure is one of the strengths of this chapter book which is to be part of a series on animals.

I liked the nicknames and personalities of the expeditioners, which weren’t only based on their job, (apart from the met fairies) - and there’s plenty of drama in the dognapping which is extended with real Antarctic experiences like fire drill, choppers, blizz, crevasses and ‘jollies’. Blackadder has got the Antarctic vocab right. She’s also allowed STAY to have a sense of smell and ability to converse telepathically with some personalities, which makes for a multi-sensory experience. Not forgetting the pungent penguin poo smell. The Labrador faithfulness is also conveyed.


PS My only minor quibble is that I understood Stay’s name to have come from Stuck There All Year (STAY) which refers to being beset. But maybe I was told a tall story by an expert?

A little dramatic licence is allowed in the Antarctic land of tall story tellers.
And a sense of humour should be a prerequisite on the Antarctic medical.

Reviewed by Hazel Edwards www.hazeledwards.com
Antarctic Arts Fellow 2001

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and it is a lovely story that hopefully encourages more interest in Antarctica. However it ends up smearing across many genres without being great in anyone of them and will only have a limited audience.

Its written as a children's book but the content and context would be beyond almost all children. The simple writing is something a parent could read to children but couldn't hope to explain the slang and terminology unless they had a significant interest in Antarctica. I have read a few books on Antarctica's history and am interested in the science that goes on down there, so the terminology and events made sense to me.

What irked me was that facts of the story/stories were rearranged into a fictional narrative. I can live with this when a long story is being compacted for the screen (i.e. the film of Red Dog), but when the subject is real (even a real fibre-glass dog) with historical facts and anecdotes are available I don't like it - you make a fictional character to match the fictional story or keep it as factual as possible.

The device of Stay's POV is very effective and could have been retained as a narrative device in a factual book covering the period from the end of the huskies up till the author's visit.

Hopefully the author (or another arts scholarship recipient) can follow up on this story with a more substancial book.

[Kate Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Jesse Blackadder’s first book for children, and was inspired by her trip to the icy south after she won the Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship in 2011/2012. Jesse was travelling there to research her wonderful historical novel for adults Chasing the Light, and was most surprised to see one of those life-sized fibreglass seeing eye dogs used to collect donations for the Royal Blind Society. It had been dognapped from a Hobart shopping centre in 1991 by some Antarctic expeditioners who were earth-broken at the impeding loss of huskies from the South Pole. In the decades since, the fibreglass dog had become a sort of mascot and had even ended up going to the North Pole. Jesse has turned the story of these adventures into a heart-warming book for 8+ .

[Roz Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read a "kids book" for decades (allegedly being a grown up these days), so I particularly enjoyed reading this book. It took me right back to being a young girl, always reading reading reading. With the benefit of an adult eye, I could see why the child in me would have loved this book - a dog that's not a real dog, but has thoughts and feelings like a real dog, and can talk to other dogs (but not humans); a band of unpredictable characters with names like Laser , Chills and Kaboom; and a rollicking adventure on the high seas. Best of all, it's all true (well, most of it, anyway).

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely story and well written.

It provides the right level of emotion and allows the reader to feel the emotions associated with the story.

Although I am not the target audience (10+ child, dog-"lover", and I do not enjoy the cold!) I found myself immersed in this book.

A nice read.

*Disclaimer: I reviewed this book as part of the First-Reads Giveaway, and as such, I received a free copy.*

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lovely train read after a long day in the city. I became very attached to Stay, the 'telepathic fibreglass dog', and enjoyed following her adventures around Antarctica with her many friends, and some enemies! The descriptions of her travels, the Antarctic environment, and the people and animals that she meets are very immediate and informative too. I'm looking forward to sharing the book with my younger friends and relatives.

[Chele · Rating 3 out of 5]

When we first meet her, Girl is in Hobart, learning about being a very special dog. A fibre-glass dog with a purpose - to raise funds to train guide dogs for the blind. Girl is dognapped, and her name and her life change forever.
A delightful read for 10+ years, and will probably spark the desire to learn more of Antarctica, and those who live there.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because stay was a plastic dog and he wanted to take on a adventure and he was really sad how he wasn't a real dog. So someone picked him up and took him to see Antarctica. He was so excited but he was a bit sad leaving his friends back home.My favourite character was stay because even though he was a plastic dog he still beilived he could go anywhere.

[Jaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining tale of a fibreglass dog called Stay.

I did enjoy the setting - and warmed to the characters who inhabit Stay's world. Would have loved to have seen further pictures of Stay and her many adventures.

[Marg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stay starts from the known - a fundraiser Labrador that children see in supermarkets to explore the lesser known terrain of the Antarctic. A group. Of children who have recently finished reading Stay agreed in unison that it was a great read.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely different! Fun for a lighthearted easy read

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to get into this book but honestly found the premise dumb. This would have translated better into a graphic novel I think.

[Anna Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story of the last dog in Antarctica. I love the way facts about Antarctica are woven into this wonderful story.

[Nella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Readers' Cup. Can see many adults as well as children enjoying this.