Harvey's back in a new adventure, after being returned home to his beloved Maggie. Now she's beginning seventh grade at St. Ambrose Academy along with her best friends Brianne and Lexi. Students attending St. Ambrose must earn twenty hours of volunteering by their winter break. The school list of volunteer opportunities includes Brayside Retirement Villa. Maggie's not sure that she could volunteer at Brayside, considering that was where Harvey, her West Highland terrier was found. Austin, the boy who found Harvey after he showed up at the front of Brayside, had taken him home, brought him back and forth to the villa but never really tried to find Harvey's owners. Still, Maggie liked Brayside and so she decides to volunteer there.
Meanwhile, Austin continues to volunteer at Brayside, where his grandfather, Phillip has been the head custodian for seventeen years. At first Austin didn't like working at Brayside but as he got to know the residents his view changed. And he met Mr. Pickering who told Austin about his life growing up on a farm, his dog, General and his best friend Bertie. It was Harvey, the West Highland Terrier who brought them together.
Now the man occupying Mr. Pickering's old room is moving upstairs and a new person, Mrs. Josephine Fradette is moving in. Mrs. Fradette arrives in style, driving a red 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air.
When Maggie returns the following Sunday, this time with Harvey, the dog remembers Austin, who seems overwhelmed to see Harvey. Maggie tells Austin that she will be spending time organizing the library and asks if she can leave Harvey with him. Harvey immediately sets out to find Walt Pickering's old room but instead of finding his old, familiar friend, there is Mrs. Fradette, who is certainly different but friendly. Mrs. Fradette is trying to choose the photos for the collage that will go on the wall outside her room.
Maggie is organizing the library when Mary Rose checks in on her and asks her to help Mrs. Fradette with her unpacking. Maggie can immediately see that Mrs. Fradette is very different from the other Brayside residents. She seems more spry with her jet black hair. They quickly discover a connection as Mrs. Fradette tells Maggie she also attended St. Ambrose many years ago. She reveals that she never finished seventh grade because the flood in 1950 closed all the schools.
When Maggie asks what happened, Mrs. Fradette tells her the river came up to the steps of the school, and that the entire city shut down. People had to evacuate and many lost everything. Mrs. Fradette went to stay with her mother's family in Laurier, in northern Manitoba. As a young girl, Mrs. Fradette considered her time in Laurier as a "great adventure" that gave her the time to spend with her beloved grandpa, whom they called Pepere. Mrs. Fradette shows Maggie some photographs of the flood and tells her that her sister Yvonne and brother Michel along with their mother travelled by train to Laurier while her older brother Ronny and her father stayed behind to protect their house.
After her first visit with Mrs. Fradette, Maggie becomes more and more interested in volunteering at Brayside and in hearing Mrs. Fradette's story. At the same time she finds herself drifting away from her best friends Brianne and Lexi and beginning to look for new friends as she learns the value of true friendship. When Mrs. Weston attempts to get students interested in entering the historical essay contest, Maggie believes she just might have the perfect subject to write about.
Meanwhile Austin and Harvey discover a puppy abandoned in the garbage in an alley near Brayside. For the second time, Austin must give up a dog, this time to the shelter because his mother won't allow pets. But it is the discovery of a job posting for head custodian at Brayside, the leads Austin to focus on saving his grandpa's job.
While all this is happening, Harvey begins to investigate an intruder in the backyard of Maggie's home. It is a female raccoon looking to winter in the shed and Harvey is having none of it. Determined to protect his Maggie, he stands his ground and confronts the raccoon and is badly injured. As she waits while Harvey is in surgery, Maggie draws on the lessons of courage, perseverance and the meaning of friendship that she's learned from Mrs. Fradette.
Discussion
Harvey Holds His Own is the second book about the spunky little West Highland terrier named Harvey. In this story, Maggie O'Neil and Austin reunite when they both do volunteer work as Brayside. In the first novel, it was the elderly Mr. Pickering who captured Austin's interest. In this novel, the eccentric Mrs. Josephine Fradette draws the interest of Maggie with her story about the 1950 Red River flood in Manitoba and her determination to become a car mechanic.
Most of the storyline involves the human characters, Austin and Maggie, both of whom are dealing with problems in their lives. Maggie's work at Brayside serves to accelerate the breakup of her friendship with Brianne and Lexi and teaches her the meaning of real friendship. This causes intense internal conflict because she wants to fit in at school with her friends, but finds herself changing as a result of her work at the retirement home. Maggie realizes that she never expected to find real friends at Brayside but that is what happens. When she's forced to choose between going to Tubby's with her friends or attending the party for Austin's grandpa, Maggie chooses the latter and is ridiculed by Brianne and Lexi. She begins to realize that maybe she's outgrowing her friends but instead of breaking the friendship she "stretches" it and reaches out to Sooyeon, the only other student in the class to enter the essay contest.
A sign of Maggie's growing maturity is her ability to rethink how she views Austin and what happened when Harvey was lost. When Maggie first got Harvey back from Austin, she was furious that he hadn't tried to find Harvey's owners. But when Maggie returns to Brayside to do her volunteer hours and sees how Austin misses Harvey, she begins to soften. She "...wonders if maybe she judged him too harshly. Maybe Austin the Dognapper deserves a second chance." And Austin is there for her when Harvey goes through surgery and begins to recover. "Of everyone in her life, he understood how much Harvey meant to her, because, she suspects, he means as much to Austin."
Austin too notices the change in Maggie. "She's becoming like one of Mrs. Fradette's outfits, brighter and bolder. I'm not worried about Maggie using up her twenty volunteer hours anymore. She's here for the long haul." Mrs. Fradette provides an example for Maggie to make her own decisions. As her friendship with Brianne and Lexi seems to fall apart, Maggie realizes "She was used to going along with things, following Lexi's lead, but now..." Mrs. Fradette's act of defiance is the impetus for Maggie resisting peer pressure from Lexi to do whatever she suggests. This is a big step in her own personal growth.
The novel has plenty of heart-warming moments; when Mrs. Fradette is found at the train station with her pet deer by Pepere, Harvey's near death after his fight with the raccoon and Austin's surprise. Wanting to repay Austin for his friendship at such a painful time, Maggie manages to convince Austin's mother to let him adopt the abandoned puppy and arranges for friends at Brayside to pay for the adoption, vet costs and even a gift card. It's a touching moment, one friend giving back to another, but it also shows how much Maggie now thinks of Austin. He has been a steadfast friend.
Young readers will enjoy this unusual story that blends together many different themes seamlessly. Harvey, Austin and Maggie each tell the story from their third person perspective. Illustrator, Tara Anderson, seems to have captured Harvey perfectly in her lovely pencil sketches, despite never having met the author. A tribute to how well author Colleen Nelson has portrayed this delightful, spirited little Westie!
Book Details:
Harvey Holds His Own by Colleen Nelson
Toronto: Pajama Press 2020
282 pp.
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