DELI

In Hutt’s middle-grade novel, a friendly, adventurous young dog experiences kindness and hardship growing up wild in Turkey.

Deli is one of four puppies born to a dog living wild in the hills outside of Istanbul. “Deli” means crazy or silly in Turkish, and the lovable stray proves impetuous from the outset, always wandering off to explore! Hundreds of wild dogs live in the hills, and their survival depends on volunteers who drive around delivering food and water, watching out for sick animals, and offering much-needed affection. While out following cars, Deli is taken by a man who tries to train him as a gun dog. The pup, however, can’t sit still for commands, so the man sets him loose in the Kartal district outside Istanbul. Kartal also has wild dogs and good Samaritans who provide for them. At first, Deli isn’t accepted into the local pack, which chases him off to the Marmara Sea, where he’s fed leftovers by families celebrating the end of Ramadan. When he returns to Kartal, his friendly nature gains him acceptance—both into the pack and from a woman named Pinar and her daughter. Hutt writes in the third person from Deli’s perspective, offering a straightforward narrative that young readers should find easy to follow, though grammar purists will wince at several run-on sentences: “There was one dog, who looked like a small German Shepherd, she always ran tirelessly till the very end, they called her wolf.” The book’s biggest strength lies in Deli’s innocent, take-it-as-it-comes worldview, through which Hutt observes the marked disparity between a society that leaves its dogs to run wild and the kind-hearted individuals who take care of them. Full-page illustrations accompany each page of plain text. These gentle, amateurish watercolors convey the personalities of Deli and his fellow canines, yet depict surprisingly little of the Turkish setting, and some images are awkwardly cropped. The result doesn’t quite do justice to the vibrant subject matter.

A warm but unpolished story about Turkey’s stray dog population.