The Arrival

Jess the Border Collie #1

by Lucy Daniels

Now a TV series...Jess the Border Collie puppy owes his life to his owner Jenny Miles, and he'd do anything for her. They're the best of friends, and together, they're ready for all sorts of adventures! Jenny Miles lives with her family on a farm in the Scottish Border. Money is always tight, running a sheep farm. Even a new puppy has to earn its keep. But when Nell the sheepdog gives birth to a tiny puppy with a twisted leg, Jenny begs to keep him. Because there's something special about Jess...

Genres: Childrens, Animals

137 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 1998

About the author

Lucy Daniels is the collective name for the writing team that created the bestselling children's book series Animal Ark, many of the books are also published under the name of the series creator, Ben M. Baglio.

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 52 Book Challenge - September Mini Challenge - 2) In The Kitchen

This is a book that is steeped in nostalgia for me. I first read it when I was in primary school, and we had periods for reading. I picked up this novel, and fell in love with dogs. It was this book that made me want a dog. So yeah, I really love this book, especially Jess.

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Miles lives in Windy Hill Farm near the Scottish boarders. Since her mother's death money has been tight and when Nell the sheepdog gives birth to puppies Jenny wants to keep the last one who is born with a twisted leg. Her father is reluctant but in the end Jenny is allowed to keep him and she calls him Jess. She has to put up with bullying from Fiona Mclay but her new friend Carrie helps her to deal with it and makes Jenny a stronger person.

I read the first three books when I was at boarding school and I could identify with Jenny as my father had recently died so it helped me to not feel alone. Perfect series for ages 8-12.

[bookwormnicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was one of my favorite when I was growing up…oh, the memories!

[Emma L.B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my freaking God, I had totally forgotten that this books ends with in a cliffhanger! This book really is just the first small step into this whole series, and if you're prepared for that, that's amazing, but I only had this one book when I was young and wasn't THAT invested in the story, not enough to actually buy or look up the rest of the series. I strongly believed I only had forgotten about what actually happens in the book because it was so many years ago, but no. Nothing is actually revealed. It's really just like the first 10 minutes of a movie. I still remember so well how this pissed me off as a child.

Anyway; the story.

I do have a huge problem with this book that I have with a lot of these slightly older books for children - Nobody talks like a real human being.

I'm not sure if it's a translation error and all of the dialogue sounds vague because of that (and that the original English text sounds more sane) or if it's just a trait that I feel is off because I read so many different kinds of children's books nowadays, but all the characters really feel like characters written for a school play. No one is believable, except maybe Jenny's father, and even he speaks sometimes like he's in a TV series by CBBC. The evil guys are just pure evil, nothing too deep, and the good guys are just good guys. Despite this, there are no extreme highs or lows either. It's like I can describe everyone in this book with one word; "kind", "mean" or "misunderstood". I understand this is a good and popular trait in children's books since it's easy to understand the characters immediately and get sucked into the story but I've read LOADS of children's books who do just that and still have very deep and interesting characters who talks in a way that you actually believe they could exist.

I also got really annoyed by Jenny and the kid's talk on the cliff. He "saved" her, then behaved slightly annoying so she could take command and save the sheep and be mad at him. The book later even made her feel bad from yelling at him and that he "probably didn't try to be mean" and "only tried his best", when he had done nothing more than being a bitch through the unbelievable dialogue they had. I'm not sure if it's my feminist side yelling at the tops of her lungs that "why should the 16-year old boy be excused for behaving like a douche all the time???" of if it's just regular annoyance at the character.

Despite all my nagging, I really like this story. Jenny and her relationship to a puppy she saves from euthanizing is strong and really admirable. It's always very clear how Jenny thinks about certain stuff and why and even if the dialogue is a bit shit, it's still very satisfying to see Jenny go from insecure, sad and scared to having friends and a puppy she saved and loves with all her heart. She's the kind of character you want good things to happen to, and it is so sweet when it finally happens, piece by piece. Maybe it's a bit unrealistic that everything just happens to fall in place more and more (I mean, there IS a big problem at the farm but it never feels like such a big deal, especially not when everything else goes so well) but it works here. I also believe that I already have figured out how some of the stories in the next books are going to be and how they're going to be resolved, which is sad. You never want to feel that you already know where a story is heading. Then again, I'm way too old for this book now.

It's still cute. I strongly recommend it if you're an animal lover, younger than 16 and someone who wants to get into books but have a hard time getting into the next one, because this book wants you to pick up the next one in the series immediately.

- - - ORIGINAL COMMENT:

I feel I need to re-read this since I don't remember much, I read it when I was around 10 years old.

[SarieBerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a touching story of a sweet little puppy born with a twisted leg! He comes from shepherding stock so will he ever be able to earn his keep with his handicap? Jenny fights to save him and a new friendship ensues! Defiantly 5 stars from me!

[Sammy]

This series of books about Jess the Sheepdog is another triumph by Lucy Daniels. I was completely hooked from the very first book. A sad storyline at times but very enjoyable read.