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Cover of Follow My Leader

Follow My Leader

James B. Garfield

191 pages

A tender, step-by-step journey out of the dark, guided by the steady harness of a loyal dog.

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What it feels like

Reading this classic middle-grade novel feels like walking alongside a friend as they slowly regain their footing after a devastating fall. The narrative unfolds at a steady, deliberate pace, mirroring the painstaking but rewarding process of learning to navigate the world anew. Its tone is remarkably earnest and straightforward, eschewing melodrama in favor of practical triumphs—the tactile satisfaction of reading Braille, the auditory map of a city street, and the profound, silent communication through a leather harness. The mood shifts gradually from the heavy, isolated despair of sudden trauma to a sunlit, heartwarming resilience. It is a deeply empathetic experience that will delight readers who cherish stories of hard-won independence, the grace of forgiving the unforgivable, and the unparalleled, life-expanding bond between a boy and his dog.

Mood
  • heartwarming
  • resilient
  • uplifting
Tone
  • earnest
  • empathetic
  • straightforward
  • hopeful
Pace
steady
Themes
the human-animal bond · navigating sudden disability · forgiveness and grace · regaining independence
The writing
The writing is clear, accessible, and gently instructive, grounding the reader in the tactile and auditory details of navigating a newly dark world.
The arc
The journey moves from the shock and bitter isolation of sudden trauma to a hard-won, joyful independence anchored by a profound new friendship.
Who it's for
Readers who appreciate classic, earnest middle-grade stories about resilience, forgiveness, and the life-changing power of a good dog.
Content notes
  • childhood injury
  • sudden blindness
  • fireworks accident

About the book

A young boy blinded in an accident learns to overcome his disability with the help of a seeing eye dog.

Jimmy and the guys were playing around. Mike decides to light a giant firecracker. Jimmy yells for him not to and, reacting instinctively to the voice, Mike throws the firecracker at Jimmy. Jimmy ends up totally blind and feels helpless and isolated from his old friends. While he's knocking around, literally, with his red and white cane, his mother puts him on a list for a seeing-eye dog. He's never really wanted a dog at all and what good is a dog when he can't see to run and play with one?

Though he doesn't know it yet, life takes a turn for the better and he is accepted to the program. The first step is traveling to the school and meeting Leader, his "new eyes". He is still bitter till one of the other students says yeah it's bad getting blinded but how would you feel going through life knowing you blinded someone else? So we get a look at how Mike is feeling after the accident, too. Can they ever be friends again?

Along with Jimmy we learn how to use a cane, how to count money, cross streets, match clothes and navigate. You learn to slowly get out in the world again. And then you and Jimmy are matched with Leader and the world really opens up around you as you go through the seeing-eye dog training course and develop an appreciation for the amazing difference a dog partner makes in handling the challenges. The world has possibilities again and Jimmy learns to love Leader.

After reading this book I started donating to the seeing-eye dog schools while still in grade school because I was so impressed with how a dog could basically give a blind person their independence back. They also have a great program for kids/families that lets you raise and begin the training of the puppies for the school.

You get the answers to a lot of questions you probably never even thought of; like how do you cut up your food, how do you eat when you can't see your plate and how do you keep from walking into walls? I still use some of the things I learned from this book: how to count change in the dark, how to analyze traffic flow when visibility is poor, and how to match clothes if you're colorblind.

Description from Open Library.

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