The primary focus of this tale is Charley's determination to tame a wild stray dog that is hanging around in the woods near her home, and turn it into a pet. A secondary story is that Charley's mother was killed in a plane crash some time before the book begins, and she is still trying to cope with her grief. A third story, about Charley still recovering from a shattered leg as a result of a car accident doesn't really seem to have a purpose in the story. It would have been more or less the same tale without that.
Taming a wild dog is a very slow and tedious project to undertake. On the good side, Tolan was honest about that. There's no magical turning Coyote (the name Charley gives the dog) into a pet in a few days. She spends an entire summer on it, going one teeny-tiny step at a time. On the down side, this honesty made this book an extremely slow moving story, dragging from one baby step to the next. The book is only about 200 pages, but it felt much longer since things happened so slowly. I wish more focus had been given to the grief recovery and a little less to the exact process Charley used to tame a stray dog.
There are also a few bizarre moments when Charley exhibits supernatural powers of ESP, where she just magically KNOWS something that happened in Coyote's past, or what is happening to him right that moment, even though she's nowhere near him. In a book which is otherwise realistic fiction, these few episodes didn't seem to make any sense, and didn't contribute anything to the story either.
Kids who really, really love books about dogs will probably enjoy all that detail, but unless dog books are your big thing, might be better to pass this one over. ( )

The book Listen is an amazing book that is a heart warming novel. It is about a girl named Charley that finds a dog named Coyote that is afraid of people, and Charley wants to tame and keep as her pet.
Listen is one of my most favorite books ever. I would re read it over and over again. The book kind of influences me because it shows that you can tame any dog whether it likes or dislikes you, and any dog is easy to train keep as a pet. It just takes sometime and steps to reach that point.
The novel Listen is a book i would recommend because all ages will love how this girl and dog come closer than you think. ( )

Charley knows loss. Her mother died in a plane crash, she was seriously injured in a car accident, and her father has become a workaholic. When her best friend is invited to stay with a new friend for the summer, Charlie wants to cut all ties. Then she becomes aware of a wild dog living in her area and takes him on as her summer project. Together they both learn about love, trust, and beginning again. Good story. It does change voice from third person to first person from time to time but after the first couple of times, it stops being distracting. ( )