Adventure for Boys: Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury

With the publication of his recent YA novel,Graham Salisbury has moved into that rarified group of writers led by Gary Paulsen who can construct riveting page-turning adventure thrillers for young male readers without any slighting of the deep emotional and moral life of his main characters.

In Night of the Howling Dogs, things start innocently enough when a mixed troop of older Eagle Scout candidates and younger beginners assemble for a hiking-camping trip from Hilo to a remote volcanic beach, Halape, in the looming shadow of the Kilauea volcano. Sixteen-year-old Dylan and his best friend Casey Bellows, son of their leader, plan to share a tent and the responsibility for the younger rookie scouts Tad, Zach, and Sam, along with fifteen-year-old Mike and his dad, assistant leader Reverend Paia.

Things get tense for Dylan when he learns that a scruffy older boy who has attended a few troop meetings is also coming along. Dylan has already had a run-in with the tough and almost out-of-control Louie, who harrasses him and challenges Dylan's new role as patrol leader at every opportunity. Still, the troop makes it through the hike in grueling heat and sets up camp near the shade of a few palm trees along the shore. Although a small shark seems to be patrolling the beach ominously, Louie dares Dylan to swim past him to a small island. Dylan reluctantly takes the challenge, noting that Louis seems fearless but is a poor swimmer.

As the guys set up to make dinner, they are joined by three native cowboys on a fishing expedition. Around the campfire that night, the three Hawaiians ask about two wild dogs spotted in the distance, and one claims that the smaller white dog is the ominous spirit of Pele, only seen before disasters.

That night a violent earthquake shakes the boys awake and just as they recover from being tossed onto the ground, an avalanche of boulders from the mountain above nearly buries the beach and the boys beneath the rubble. Soon a tsunami follows, in which Dylan almost drowns and most of the troop go missing. Surprisingly, Dylan finds that Louie is the most courageous of the survivors, and with him Dylan finds the strength to go back to find his fellow scouts and their leaders.

Based on the true story of a Boy Scout troop involved in the earthquake and tsunami of November 29, 1975, which submerged much of southwest Hawaii under fifty feet of water in five surges, the author draws upon his cousin's account to create the character of Dylan. Into the realistic account inspired by this actual event, Hawaiian-born Salisbury weaves the mythology of the region to recount an outdoor survival story that is absolutely gripping.

Salisbury, who has carried off Newbery Honor and Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Awards for his earlier books, reviewed in my previous posts here, here, and here, has a rare gift for crafting irresistable plot lines, rich in local color and characterizations, which deal with the psychology of the adolescent male seriously and empathetically.