Review by Mack Hassler
“‘You are Israel’s teacher, said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand … ?’
— John 2:25
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen
plainly that what he has done has been done through God”‘
— John 3: 21
Rebecca Aveen is an Australian from Sydney who currently lives in Northern Michigan with her husband and two cats. As she herself says in a note to her reader at the start of Animal Listeners, “This novel is written in Australian English, which leads to colour not color, bush rather than forest, the occasional ‘G day” instead of ‘hi’. “No worries. She’ll be right, Mate.” I think it is refreshing to read in Australian English a narrative that is intended for a middle school audience of UP readers. I met Rebecca at the conference in Marquette in May 2025, and she had this first print run of her first novel in hand. I had spent some time at the open mic reading my poems about two lost dogs that I felt could talk to me. Rebecca eagerly thrust at me her story about talking animals. I had reassured myself that my own perceptions were not just wish fulfillment or blatant fantasy but rather the original nature of things in the Garden of Eden, where all the new creatures created by God could speak. This must have been the case because, otherwise, how could the clever snake have tempted Eve? The language skills did not last long because God soon realized he had made a mistake. He tore down the Tower of Babel and made all of our languages into translations.
The epigraph for this review comes from an encounter Jesus has early in his ministry with the great teacher and political leader of the Hebrew people at the time, and Nicodemos, the rabbinical leader cannot recognize who speaks in the early days of creation. So it is back to Saint John’s main message: God is the speaker: it is he who is “the Word. Nicodemos, in all of his wisdom and learning, cannot see the importance of this interlocutor (speaker) to give us the true nature of things. Rebecca gets it, and her character Quinby is a great interlocutor for animal speech.
When eleven-year-old Quinby Clark, who is part of a dysfunctional family consisting of a near alcoholic “Mum”, a tough-minded father, Brett, and two nervous siblings, an older brother and a younger brother. Quinby is intellectually gifted and about to be offered a scholarship to a prep school that is identified as an “Animal Listener” school. When the dog of the school admissions office invites her to attend this mysterious Australian boarding school for children who can speak with animals, Quinby realizes her dreams of escaping her bickering
and contentious family are finally coming true. Thrust into the secret society of Animal listeners, Quinby discovers she can speak with more animals than anyone else-a fact that the school requests her to hide to protect them all from covert factions
Not all animals are “good guys (e.g. the snake who tempts and destroys the good marriage of Adam and Eve in the Garden). Quinby is wrongfully accused of causing trouble. She and her new friends and schoolmates are forced to prove her innocence while they rescue precious animals. Australia and the world desperately need her gifts and extraordinary abilities, but will Quinby even survive one year at her new and very interesting school? Rebecca is very good at developing an exciting plot among these very unusual and interesting middle school teens with language abilities long submerged and relegated to the fascinating island continent far to the East and South of Eden.
My own special interest in this set of ideas comes from my love of dogs and my own memories of communicating with the two West Highland White Terriers I was determined to make a home for once my wife had passed away unexpectedly several years ago and the three of us were left very much alone I was very lucky, even though much older than Quinby and her “mates” to discover both the bestselling novel and the award-winning movie both with the title “The Art of Racing in the Rain, story by Garth Stein as well as the screenplay (novel in 2008; movie in 2119). The novel is completely narrated by the dog Enzo; in the movie, Kevin Costner uses his voice to read the lines in the narration of Enzo. I am a total fan of the dog Enzo. Just before his master Denny, has to put him down for old age, Enzo recalls hearing of a Mongolian belief that the best dogs reincarnate into men.
“Enzo knows he is not long for this world, but he hopes to find Denny again in
another life ….. After a practice session, a young fan with golden hair approaches
[the dog was a golden retriever] Denny for an autograph. Denny smiles, says the
boy reminds him of an old friend, and suggests he come back when he is ready to
race.” (wikipedia plot summary).
I think it was a lucky break that I met Rebecca Aveen at the 2025 conference in Marquette. Animal Listeners is a middle-school narrative that I find well-plotted and just filled with ideas that fascinate me and that I think have a clear Biblical origin and that give me hope for our continuing life East of Eden. Please pay attention to this new immigrant to the UP of Michigan, where I am nearly certain our female deer, pesky rabbits, fierce wolves, and bears can talk.
Animal Listeners: The Awakening of Quinby Clark, by R Aveen (published by Animal Listeners Press, Michigan USA, first edition September 2024) book cover by Miblart, 466 pages, pbk, $24.9
