Goodnight, Boy is about a young boy named JC and his bestfriend, Boy the dog. I was sad the whole time I’m reading this. To think that he was locked in a kennel with his dog is too disturbing. The story is about how JC suffered in his past. It is well-written and emotional-driven.

I received the ARC from NetGalley.
While the premise of the book appealed to me, I found the story line less than stellar. Told completely through the eyes of an abused child, the story lacks the clear vision of an omniscient viewer. 
The immigrant teen JC has been banished to a kennel by his new father while his mother is out of the country trying to legalize him. JC's only companion is a dog named Boy. Having already survived unspeakable atrocities in his past, JC is able to view his current condition with a passivity that only the truly perpetually abused can understand. 
While the past and present are sad, deeply emotional, and heartbreaking, they did not seem to be balanced by his survival, release, and questionable future.

Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.
Netgalley now requires a star rating so I am giving all titles 5 stars so as not to disadvantage any title but this does not imply any recommendation of the book above any other.

The teenager JC lives in the United States now. He moved there when Melanie decided to adopt him. However, Melanie needs to go back to JC's homecountry to finalize legally making him her son and leaves JC with his adoptive father and their dog Boy. JC's new father isn't happy at all with the arrival of a boy he doesn't know. According to Melanie he should treat him as a son, but he doesn't want to and is constantly angry. Instead of letting JC stay in the house he throws him out and makes him live in the doghouse together with Boy.

After a terrible incident JC is no longer welcome in the house that doesn't even feel like home yet. Boy is his only friend and to pass the time JC tells Boy about his life before Melanie took him in. He talks about his country, the terrible earthquake he survived, illnesses and his friends and family. JC has been through a lot and he's strong, but staying with a dog in a small wooden kennel without any regular food or water is tough and Melanie doesn't seem to come back any time soon. Will JC eventually find a way out of the doghouse and the terrible situation he and Boy are in?

Goodnight Boy is a fantastic moving story. I was shocked when I started reading it, because of the appalling conditions JC and Boy are living in. Their story moved me to tears many times, as what's happening to them is heartbreaking. Goodnight Boy is sad and emotional, but it's also beautiful and hopeful at the same time. It is a bittersweet story with a special main character and the writing is gorgeous. I couldn't put the book down, it mesmerized me and I had to keep reading. Goodnight Boy impressed me in many different ways, because of the amount of depth, the originality, the gorgeous one-way dialogue and the comfort a boy and a dog can offer each other.

Nikki Sheehan has written a stunning book about a teenage boy being unpleasantly surprised by life over and over again. JC never gets depressed, he does everything he can to make something of every situation he finds himself in and his resilience keeps getting him far. He's talking about his awful past in a matter-of-fact way and never feels any self pity. That made a difficult story light enough to keep reading. It's a strange contrast and Nikki Sheehan makes it work really well. Goodnight Boy is a story about bad luck, good and evil and everything in between. It shows how an unlucky situation can sometimes turn into a chance. It's about abuse, deep emotional wounds and the craziness that many unexpected twists and turns in life can bring. I absolutely loved this brilliant story and highly recommend it.

<i>Goodnight, Boy</i> tells the story of an immigrant boy in unimaginable circumstances, through an engaging character voice that keeps readers incredibly close to the protagonist. 

The framing of the book was immediately interesting to me. JC is telling the story to his dog (Boy), with fluid movement between past backstory and his present in confinement. There are no chapter breaks and very little actual dialogue, but the tension carries you through so seamlessly it's hard to put the book down. I'm in awe of how the author managed to do this while breaking many conventional rules for YA (like--don't spend too much time solely in the MC's head). JC felt alive and vibrant despite the entire story being almost second-hand (him telling it to us as he tells it to Boy). Likewise, some of the foggy plot points felt okay unanswered because we are so so deep in JC's perspective. 

Overall, this was an engaging read, and definitely unique. Read this if you want an example of excellent character voice!

Ten Second Synopsis:
JC has been adopted by an American family from his native Haiti. When his adoptive mother leaves, JC and his dog Boy find themselves at the mercy of Melanie's abusive husband.

I've got two separate warring opinions on this book which is making it a little difficult to come to a cohesive overall feeling about it.  Goodnight, Boy is narrated by JC, a teen boy who has been adopted from Haiti by an American couple.  The story is revealed as JC talks to his dog, Boy, with whom JC is imprisoned in a kennel in the backyard of his suburban home.  As the story unfolds, the reader finds out that JC's adoptive mother, Melanie is missing, gone away or otherwise absent, for reasons that are also unclear, and that JC's angry adoptive father is responsible for JC and Boy's captivity.  

If you are hoping, as you read, that the reasons behind JC's imprisonment will be revealed in a timely fashion, you will be sorely disappointed.  The reasons are not revealed until the very end of the story and by that time I was a bit baffled as to why Melanie thought leaving JC alone with her obviously abusive partner, who had expressed no liking for JC, was a good idea in the first place.  

But I digress.

The main things I enjoyed about this book were the easily readable narrative voice and JC's descriptions about his childhood in Haiti.  The book has a conversational tone and it is easy to fall into the flow of the words and get caught up in the story, despite the constant interruptions in which JC takes issue with Boy's doggish behaviour.  Similarly, although often sad, JC's recounting of his childhood I found to be absorbing and fascinating and revealed much about the factors that have moulded his personality.

The thing that I found difficult about the book was that it didn't have the shock factor of a book like Room by Emma Donoghue, which dealt with a similar situation, and I felt that without this, something was lacking.  From the beginning of the story it was obvious that something seriously bad was going to happen - or possibly was already happening - but this didn't pan out in the way I expected and I felt that the ending was a bit of an anti-climax.  Not that I'm unhappy that there was a satisfactory ending for JC and Boy - far from it - but I was hoping for a bit more suspense and emotional turmoil than was delivered.

I think I would have preferred it had the book had a second story thread, narrated by Melanie or her husband, to flesh out some of the issues and heighten the suspense.

Overall I found this to be an interesting read with some original qualities, but it didn't quite stand out as a stellar story for the reasons I've mentioned.

(I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)

It's always difficult to give a serious book a poor rating, especially when it's evident that the author has worked so hard to give voice to suffering. Still, I didn't love this book.

What Worked:

I loved JC's recollections of his country and his honesty. He paints a picture of a proud nation brought to its knees by an earthquake, and aid workers who try so hard, but can't do everything. He's honest about the times he got in fights or stole to survive, and he knows he's not a weakling. Basically, everything about the flashbacks, I loved.

I also love how his own trauma has colored his experiences with being locked in the dog kennel. He acknowledges that some people in his country have it much worse (or are dead), but he recognizes that it's not a healthy move on the part of his adoptive father. He knows he's suffering abuse, but also feels that he deserves it somehow. JC is an amazingly well-crafted bearer of survivor's guilt, and that aspect of the book really resonates with me.

What Didn't Work:

I did not like the frame of JC talking to Boy (the dog). This is where the writing got clunky and stilted in order to inform the reader of Boy's actions: 

Good, Boy! You're drinking it! I'm going to bring you some more. Wait here.

Ready? All right, your mouth is full. Swallow, then I'll let you sleep. I promise. No, don't cough! Swallow. Good.

I lied. Just one more. I mean it this time. Good, Boy, you licked your lips!

Etc. 

The writing throughout the frame felt forced, and it pulled me out of the ambiance of the story.

I would not recommend this for a classroom library (either MS or HS)... it just feels too clunky.

I read a blurb of this book on B&T and had to have it. It is amazing and very heart wrenching. I loved the history that was woven through JC's story. I was not ready for the ending though. I wanted more.

I honestly don't know how to begin. This single chapter book has rocked me. The heartbreakingly beautiful book is told by JC, who is talking to his dog, Boy.

JC's story is beautiful, even though there is no real dialogue, the story moves quickly as the reader is pulled into this story of desperation, fear, love, and hope. You quickly realize that there is a very good chance that JC's story will not have a happy ending.

From the disastrous streets of his home country to the terrifying parts of his new father, JC's story will grab you and not let go.

This story is both heartwarming and devastating. Beautiful and horrible. I honestly can't think of more to say about it, so I feel like I'm babbling. Pick up the book, grab a good snack, and get ready to be pulled through the emotional roller-coaster this book will take you down.

Goodnight, Boy by Nikki Sheehan is a small book in that, like a Sarah Crossan, it is sparse, poetic, considered. But it is also huge beyond compare. In heart, in depth and in hope. It is one I will come back to again and again.

'A tale of two very different worlds, both shattered by the loss of loved ones. Tragic, comic and full of hope, thanks to a dog called Boy. The kennel has been JC's home ever since his new adoptive father locked him inside. For hours on end, JC sits and tells his dog Boy how he came to this country: his family, the orphanage and the Haitian earthquake that swept everything away. When his adoptive mother Melanie rescues him, life starts to feel normal again. Until JC does something bad, something that upset his new father so much that he and Boy are banished to the kennel. But as his new father gets sicker, JC realizes they have to find a way out. And so begins a stunning story of a boy, a dog and their journey to freedom.'

Nikki Sheehan's writing has that beautiful mix of humour, tragedy and hope. She has balanced it perfectly; the resilience and positivity of JC set against the cruelty and suffering around him is so moving, it left me staring at the last blank page and dealing with a fierce book hangover. Goodnight, Boy is a special book and it will stay with me for a very long time.

You can get your copy here.

Source - kindly sent for review by the publisher.

This book was made special by the way it was written. As one boy's monologue to his dog, it was different to a lot of things. Even other books written in monologue haven't come close to being as good as this one. I think that's partly because as JC tells the dog his story, he often has to stop and come back to the present because something is happening with the dog. 

I found that this story really captured me. Often monologue stories can be a little dull, but there were so many threads and little mysteries that kept my attention fixed on the story. What happened that caused JC and Boy to be locked into the kennel? When will Melanie come back? All these little questions keep me interested and reading to the very end. 

JC's voice also just made me care for him a lot. His voice was so young and he had been through so much, it made it so easy to connect with him and want the best for him. 

This was definitely a very interesting book and it's made me more interested in reading more like it.

Although it took me a few pages to work out what was happening as I couldn't quite believe what I thought at first, I soon could picture a young boy talking to his dog as though he could have a reasonable conversation. It soon becomes clear that reason does not have a place in the young boy's life. Not as a toddler in his own country, and not as a refugee in his adopted country.. The adults who should know better have  let him down. At times heartbreaking and other times funny, this novel is not about a boy and a dog but hope, love and forgiveness.

I made it through 25% and could not finish.  This story just didn't hold my interest.