The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers
By Caroline Arnold
The Hodag is a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and a tail of an alligator. He’s forty feet tall and his eyes glow like fire, but don’t be afraid, the Hodag has a preference for wild blueberries. Not to mention, he’s great friends with lumberjacks.
One day as the lumberjacks are heading home from a hard day’s work in the woods they come across a group of men setting up camp. The men reveal that they are animal catchers and are there to capture the Hodag in order to bring him to a zoo. What ensues is the amusing adventure of a group of lumberjacks, led by Olee Swenson, as they lead the animal catchers on a merry goose chase before eventually running them off.
The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an original tale told by Caroline Arnold and is based off the legendary characters of Olee Swenson and the Hodag. Legends of the two have been told in logging camps for over a hundred years and made popular campfire tales at the summer camp in Wisconsin that Arnold attended. The book is intended for audiences between the ages of 9 through 12 (grades 2 through 4). Younger audiences though will enjoy having this tale read to them and perhaps even challenge themselves so that they may read it.
The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an amusing and fun-filled fantastical adventure that teaches the importance of friends and teamwork. The mean animal catchers are thwarted in their plans to abduct the Hodag, who really isn’t terrible at all, only because the lumberjacks value their friend. And it is with the combined effort of the lumberjacks and the Hodag, that their traps and diversions succeed. Unlike other children’s stories I’ve seen, The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers does not harp on the underlying themes nor does it try to pound the message into the audience’s brain either. Arnold subtly weaves these themes in with the story and the end result is a story that will captivate the minds and imaginations of the readers.
Joana’s Rating: 
(4 out of 5 stars)
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