The Leanin' Dog by k.a. nuzum - Review written by Bailey Lilac

The Leanin' Dog is a wonderful, yet long, story about an 11 year old girl named Dessa Dean. Dessa Dean cannot feel the tips of her ears, because of frost bite she got when her mother and she were out in the cold, and her mother died. Ever since then, Dessa Dean has not left the small cabin her father and her share. She also gets 'Daymares'-like nightmares- about her mothers death. One day when her father is out hunting for food, Dessa Dean suffers another daymare. When she finally awakens from it, she hears a scratching noise at the door. She finds that the scratching is coming from a beautiful brown lab that came to rest on their porch. Dessa Dean accidently scares the dog off, and tries desperately to get the dog to come back. The next day, the dog does come back, and even after her father warns her not to go near the dog, she does. And this time, she is able to pet the dog, and gives it some food. When her father returns from hunting, the dog goes crazy, and Dessa Dean's father shoots his gun into the air, scaring the dog off once more. After he learns that the dog is actually helping Dessa Dean to better deal with losing her mother, he says she can feed the dog if it comes back. The next day, sure enough, the dog returns, then stays in the house, but will only stay inside with the door open. Dessa Dean's father is upset about how many problems the dog is causing, although it is also helping in many ways as well. Aftter a while, things begin picking up, when the dog catches a rabbit, giving it to Dessa Dean, who saves the rabbit for the christmas meal. This makes Dessa Dean's father a little more accepting of the dog.
On christmas day, Dessa Dean has everything out and ready for the christmas meal, including her mothers good china. Dessa Dean leaves a treat for the dog out on the porch to cool, and a little while later, she thinks that the dog has already found the treat, and is enjoying it. When she walks to the door, she discovers what she thought was the dog, is really a bear, who begins wandering into the cabin. Dessa Dean hides in a trunk while the bear distroys the christmas feast, and her mothers china, and then, the dog walks in the house and attacks the bear, scaring it out. The dog chases the bear into the woods, and for the first time, Dessa Dean leaves the cabin and chases after the dog, in fear that the dog is hurt from the bear.
Dessa Dean follows the paw prints of both the dog, and the bear, until a snow storm starts up, covering the tracks. Dessa Dean becomes lost in the middle of the woods, and is swept away by yet another daymare. She lays in the snow, unable to awaken from her daymare, until the dog finds her, and they begin walking home. Dessa Dean begins feeling unable to continue walking home through the cold, dark woods, but the dog keeps nudging her forward, until Dessa Dean falls onto the porch of their cabin, where her terrified father quickly brings her inside.