No definition quite encompasses or fits animals like Mutt, the Prince Albert (?) retriever, the hero of Farley Mowat's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be …, written for adults and adopted by children, or Wol and Weeps, the equally surprising owls of Mowat's Owls in the Family …, written for children and adopted by adults. Both books brought joy and exuberance and a sense of fun and mischief for the first time into Canadian children's literature.

Mutt, the dog who wouldn't be, was a dog all right, but he was also sensitive to his appearance and to comments made about him. He early learned to avoid trouble with more combative dogs by balancing on the top of back fences; then he graduated to tree and ladder climbing. He was a traveller, sailing on the Saskatchewan River with Farley's father and on land in the Mowat car, suitably dressed in dark glasses. He...