When I was growing up, dog stories were everywhere. They were in movies, books, and TV, and even though I wasn’t a dog lover in real life, I couldn’t get enough of them. Influenced by these stories, my friends and I would sometimes pretend to be dogs when we played together, each choosing a breed, a name, and a backstory.
Dog stories are still around, and dogs are more popular than ever, but I rarely see anything that reminds me of the stories I used to love growing up. Author Bryan Reilly has broken this dry spell with his novel, The Junkyard.
Below is my review of The Junkyard followed by an interview with Reilly. Then, enter to win a signed paperback copy via the SweepWidget form below!
The Junkyard plot summary
The Junkyard opens with a pitbull named Ninja and a Rottweiler named Sumo who are led into a dogfighting ring by their owner, Mr. Ferguson. Ninja is tired of fighting and asks Sumo to help her throw the fight, even if that means she will be left out to starve or worse.
Sumo hesitantly complies, and a severely injured Ninja is nursed back to health by the dogs of the northern junkyard led by a German Shepherd named Dodge, his mate, Lexus, and their son, Fiat. Renamed Maytag, Ninja is asked to help defend the northern junkyard from the leader of the southern junkyard, a Rottweiler named Saab.
Maytag’s reluctant to do so, hoping to put her fighting days behind her. But as she forms a bond with the northern junkyard pack, she finds herself more and more willing to defend them to the death, even though the odds appear to be stacked against them.
The story
The Junkyard is a classic rival gang story with unique twists and turns and explores traditional themes of honor, revenge, and loyalty. It is brutal and action-packed, yet full of heart and a wide mix of characters whose morals and instincts are put to the test. Sometimes they are triumphant, and sometimes they are defeated.
The story is fantasy in that the dogs and other animals featured in the story can speak English, though they aren’t understood by Mr. Ferguson or any of the humans who come to watch the dog fights. Otherwise, it’s very grounded in its telling, and the animals could easily be switched out for humans, and the story would still make sense and have a lot to teach its readers.
The illustrations
The book is short, under 200 pages, and many of these pages contain full color illustrations which I was sure to read in color in order to get the full effect of these drawings. Some of the drawings take up an entire page while others are half-page spreads that encompass the entire top half of two pages, depending on what it’s trying to convey.
The illustrator, Rich Denver, puts a lot of emotion into his animals without giving them cartoonish, anthropomorphic qualities. The aerial view map of the junkyard was particularly helpful in getting a layout of the different, distinct areas that the characters weave through like a maze and which become instrumental in understanding the climax of the story.
The characters
There are a lot of characters in this book, many of which have a significant effect on the outcome of the story. I found it hard to keep track of who was who at times as well as their breeds and personalities, but Reilly did a great job of organically reminding the reader of who was who.
When the dogs join the junkyard, they are given new names. Dodge, who learned to read English, tends to bestow those new names onto the new dogs based on brands of cars and appliances that have been discarded in the junkyard. It’s a great way to give them a new identity with familiar words to its readers that have a whole new meaning in the human world. However, the names are fitting for each dog’s personality.
Reilly is able to give each character something meaningful to do in a short amount of time. This helps to form a strong bond between the readers and the characters, creating a great amount of tension and panic when they find themselves in trouble and facing a brutal end, even the villainous ones.
My recommendation
I recommend The Junkyard to any reader who is looking for a classic action tale with well-drawn characters and high stakes. The side plots really keep the story moving, and other than the abrupt ending, I felt that the story and characters were flushed out well.
The drawings really help to break up the text without feeling out of place or pausing the action in any way. In fact, they help to add to the clarity of the action.
I’d love to see these characters in future stories. I feel that Reilly has built the base of an epic series in this first book.
My rating
Enter the giveaway!
An interview with Bryan Reilly
You wrote on your website that this book was inspired by your first viewing of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Are there any nods or Easter eggs to that franchise that are hidden in the book?
Yes, Chapter 7 of The Junkyard is essentially an 18-page Phantom Menace Easter egg! If you recall, the movie begins with two heroes going to a meeting about a trade embargo.
Back in 1999, after seeing the movie, I thought, wouldn’t it have been cool if, when the heroes went off to their meeting, something pivotal happened back in the place they had left unprotected? What if the movie’s underutilized and underdeveloped villain (shout out to Darth Maul) attacked their friends? Would that have given the story more emotional weight? Would it have raised the stakes?
Those thoughts stayed with me until 2005, when I began writing The Junkyard as a short story. In its first pages, two dogs of a peaceful tribe leave home and journey across the junkyard to negotiate with the dogs of a militant tribe. While they are gone, an animal that craves revenge attacks their home. The Junkyard’s opening pages have since changed, but this meeting remains a pivotal moment.
Were you inspired by any other classic or childhood stories?
Telling a story about a group or gang of young friends with unique personalities and real danger to deal with was inspired by stories like The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and The Goonies, by Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus. Stories about danger and extreme circumstances revealing character really pique my interest and imagination.
Telling a story from an animal’s perspective was definitely inspired by Animal Farm, by George Orwell, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, and Watership Down, by Richard Adams. As a kid, I loved the rabbits in Watership Down and the adventure they set out on, but more than that, I loved the gritty realism of the story and the way the danger wasn’t sugar-coated.
I read that Richard Adams wrote the story for his children, so it’s for young readers, and I love how he didn’t ‘talk down’ to them or pull any punches with his writing. I was in no way mature beyond my years as a kid, but I appreciated the depiction of an honest, sometimes harsh reality. There are parts of the book and its movie adaptation that have been seared into my imagination for over 40 years.
How did you come up with the setting of the junkyard, the design of the junkyard, and naming the dogs after automotive makes and appliance brands?
The setting of The Junkyard was very much inspired by the movie Stand By Me, which is based on Stephen King’s novella, The Body—most notably when Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern sneak into the junkyard, camp in the shade created by the junk around them, razz each other, strategize about how they’re going to get food, and get chased down a path lined by junk on either side by Chopper the ‘vicious’ dog and the junkyard’s owner.
That scene always made me wonder about all the hidden nooks, rooms, tunnels, and shady areas that these piles of junk must accidentally create. When I knew I wanted to write a story about a secret tribe of dogs, the only setting I could think of where they could hide and have cool places to have an adventure was a junkyard.
I’ve always been a fan of books that present a map and give you a visual to refer back to, if needed, like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Sketching The Junkyard’s map was maybe the most fun I’ve ever had planning out or outlining a story.
I knew the dogs had to have a place to sleep, eat, hide, and have fun. I also knew there had to be places they shouldn’t go. Coming up with these places was great fun. For example, I knew I wanted the story to feature a race that revealed the character of one or more of the dogs, and it had to take place in a straightaway that was bordered by junk tall enough to hide the racers from human eyes, and that’s how the G.E. Ravine came to be!
And then when I started thinking about all the discarded items you might find in a junkyard, like televisions, cars, hubcaps, and tires… Hmmm, what would a huge stack of tires be called? Why Mt. Goodyear, of course! Wait, no, maybe it should be called Mt. Michelin? I know, let’s put ‘em both in there!
A lot of The Junkyard’s map design came to be like that. And creating the map before writing the bulk of the story may have been the smartest thing I did, too. I knew where there’d be a left or right turn, how far things were from each other, where the dogs would be safe from Mr. Fergusen’s prying eyes—it was great to have that in front of me.
Naming the dogs after automotive makes and appliance brands was an epiphany that took place during the writing process. I had established, at least in my own mind, that the junkyard’s cruel owner always went with a theme when naming his fighting dogs.
One generation had names that ended in “er”, Scrapper and Butcher, while the next generation had names with Japanese roots, like Sumo, Ninja, Shogun, and Kaiju. It wasn’t until I realized the leader of the junkyard’s northern lair should rename the strays and fighting ring survivors he rescues — that these dogs, like him, would want to shed the name given to them by a human who shouted it in anger or with cruelty in his voice — that the brand name idea came to me. And once this epiphany took place, as with the map, I had great fun with it!
Many of the bravest characters in the book are female, yet it’s not something that is blatantly pointed out throughout the book, which felt refreshing and organic. Was that intentional? Did you go about shaping and writing the female characters in any way that differed from the male characters?
I suppose the great thing about writing a story about dogs is that you don’t fall into the trappings of pre- or ill-conceived gender expectations. I wrote every character in The Junkyard with the approach that they needed to have a unique personality and role to play.
I’d hate to say that assigning gender was an afterthought, but it was! This is because I have a female pit-bull mix who can be sweet and lovable, strong and feisty, and is a real heart-warmer and crowd-pleaser. She gave me the knowledge and confidence I needed to make the two protagonists of The Junkyard, Maytag and Ruby, female.
If you could jump into this story, how would you want to interact with the characters?
I would love to befriend the dogs of the northern yard and work out a trade: I bring them each a hearty meal every day in exchange for one or more of them wearing a GoPro camera so I can travel through the junkyard’s hidden nooks and crannies. I definitely would like some time basking (or napping) in Television Tunnel!
Do you have a favorite character?
This changes for me every day! It would be easy for me to say Maytag, since she is a great role model for non-violence, staying true to one’s values, and was inspired by my pit-bull mix, Rosie… But today I’m going to say Ruby, who showed a willingness to take criticism and change, show resourcefulness, and put herself in great danger for the sake of others, and to drive the story home.
What was it like working with the illustrator, Rich Denver? Did you give him any specific direction? Was there anything about the finished product of the illustrations that surprised you?
It was great working with Rich! He and I met at a creative agency back in 2015, where he was a graphic designer and I was a copywriter, and have been creative partners ever since.
More than anyone, Rich knows I like to present copy ideas with kindergarten-level sketches that help me get my visions across. I gave him several of these kinds of sketches as we worked on The Junkyard, and as always, he accepted them with grace and a smile and made them 100 times better with his unique illustrative talents.
As his illustrations came in chapter by chapter, they were great, as I’d expected, but what surprised me was that he hand-painted each one! He didn’t even use graphic design software! Every illustration in The Junkyard was hand-painted in brilliant watercolor on its own canvas. Rich really took the time to pour his heart and soul into each illustration, and the book is better for it.
And here’s some trivia that Laura’s Books and Blogs will be the first to know: In the original version of The Junkyard, the cruel junkyard owner, Mr. Fergusen, has a Golden Retriever that lives in his house and helps the junkyard dogs named Sasha. When Rich agreed to illustrate the book for free, I thought it only fair to change Sasha the Golden Retriever to Ruby the Chocolate Lab, as a tribute to Rich’s dog, Ruby.
The characters in this book are pushed to their limit and tested to retaliate in a very vengeful way that would feel justified. What message did you want to send about revenge, and what tips do you have for keeping your cool when it would be easier to lash out against those who have done you wrong?
Much like the wonderful feelings we put into the world when we express love or perform acts of kindness, the negative feelings that come with taking revenge stick with you, shape you, and are hard to shake. I think many of us can remember a time when we were teased, bullied, or humiliated by our siblings, classmates, or friends and became filled with that “I’ll get you for that!” feeling.
From my experience, acting on that feeling didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t help me sleep better at night. It didn’t take away my angst, frustration, or anger. In fact, it only added guilt, shame, and remorse to the negative vibes I already had inside me. It made me feel worse!
I think it’s extremely admirable to overcome that “I’ll get you for that” feeling and choose peace over perpetuating conflict. I made that achievement a part of The Junkyard because I wanted to write characters that I admire and aspire to be more like.
There’s an old saying that goes, “Before you seek revenge, dig two graves.” One grave is for the person you want to hurt, and the other is for yourself.
I would ask someone considering taking revenge to keep those metaphorical graves in mind, especially the second one, because the feeling of laying down in it can stay with you forever— it will only cause more sleepless nights and raise more questions, doubt, and disappointment in yourself—and the energy you’ll put into the world is the destructive kind that fuels deep-rooted hatred, prejudice, and never-ending wars.
Will we see these characters in any future stories?
Yes, the dogs of The Junkyard will return! But will they have another adventure in the Fergusen’s piles of junked cars and appliances? Or will they find themselves in a different setting? To be honest, I’m having trouble deciding whether or not to leave the world I created. Maybe I’ll sketch a map of a new location and see what happens!
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