Floss by Kim Lewis (1992) was difficult for me. Floss is a happy-go-lucky border collie that belonged to an old man who lived in a town. Floss has it good. She loves taking walks with the old man and playing ball with children in the park. One day, the old man gives Floss to his son. I found this separation painful to read. The son lives in the country and needs a new young dog to herd his sheep. His present dog, Old Nell, Is worn out and quite frankly she looks it. So Floss learns to herd sheep, but she remembers her happy past. Floss sleeps in a dog house now and works long hours every day. We can imagine Floss becoming like Old Nell.
When Floss sees the farmer's children playing ball, she runs to join them. Consequently, the sheep run wild through the farmer's back yard and garden. The farmer is furious. From from then on, "She worked so hard to gather sheep well that she was too tired to dream anymore.” How sad is that? When the old man comes to watch Floss running dog trials, we don’t see a warm reunion; we see Floss panting with exhaustion post competition.
At the end of the book, the farmer gives Floss permission to play ball with the family. What is the message here? Perhaps this is a book about adulting, about moving from childhood play into the rough world of adult responsibility?
