“The Eyes and the Impossible” (2023 Knopf) by Dave Eggers won the Newbery this year and what a book! The story is told by Johannes, a dog living a
wild and free life on a large island, amongst other animals and some people. Johannes is “the Eyes” of the community and races around letting the others know what is happening on their island domain.
Johannes tells us that he runs faster than sound, faster than light, so fast we can’t see him. He needs to run. And he’s invincible. I have known kids like this, and they are wonderful. So is Johannes.
Johannes is ecstatic as well as lyrical: “I ran until I saw the first lavender light of day, and I greeted the Sun with a happy grin and wild eyes and it was only then that my muscles told me it was time.” Time to sleep. Johannes sleeps in a hollow tree: “…I had turned and turned within and was ready to sleep, the sky was pale and sighing.” You want to join him in his hollow. At least I do.
First Johannes brings news of his sightings to the three bison. Our protagonist has help from various other animals who are assistant Eyes. Most importantly is Bertrand, a seagull who can fly above and notify Johannes of danger. And there is danger.
A small group of ne’er-do-wells, who Johannes calls the Trouble Travelers, traps Johannes with a rope, pull him into their van and drive off. Johannes hates the rope and is worried about being leashed, but not distraught. He feels his friends will help him. We hope he’s right because we’re SO in love with this free and wild dog. However, “My idea of myself had diminished. Until my captivity I thought I was faster, cleverer, closer to invincible.” Such is life.
Freya is thousands of years old, Johannes tells us, and the number one bison. She has a sensible approach to life on the island, saying they have three acres on which to roam, and no one tells them what to do. But Johannes believes they must be freed.
In the meantime, they’ve hung “squares” on the walls of the new park building and Johannes is mesmerized by them. That’s how the three kidnapped him. He was caught off guard while in a trancelike state while looking at the artwork in the frames.
A large flock of goats is brought to the island to graze down the underbrush. Johannes comes up with an outrageous plan, involving a complicated distraction, to free the bison. At dawn on a particular day a boat will come to pick up the goats. It is not until learning from one particular goat, does Johannes realize there’s an immense world beyond his island and this is where he decides the bison must go.
Johannes is given credit for the dozen color illustrations in the book which are all classical 17th though 19th century landscapes to which Shawn Harris has added Johannes, the wild dog.
Please get this book and read it to your kids after dinner or before bed, not because they can’t read it themselves, but it’s a great book to read together.
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning books: Lift As You Climb; Josephine; Loving vs Virginia; and Struttin’ With Some Barbecue all signed and for sale at Jane Addams bookstore. Her forthcoming books are about women’s suffrage, Martha Graham, Ella Fitzgerald, as well as poems about waterfowl. talesforallages.com
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