This classic work of children’s literature is back in print along with an afterword written by Betsy Hearne that places it in historical perspective. Hearne notes that the publication of Dorp Dead in 1965 followed the selection of Where the Wild Things Are for the Caldecott Medal, and It’s Like This, Cat for the Newbery Medal, in 1964. In all three books, the myth of childhood as safe, cozy, and innocent was shattered. “None of these books revealed more clearly than Dorp Dead the child’s vulnerability to a sinister environment,” Hearne writes. The protagonist of the story, an eleven-year-old boy named Gilly Ground, is up against something terrible when he’s apprenticed to the ladder-maker, Mr. Kobalt. But Gilly doesn’t realize it at first. He’s thrilled to be out of the orphanage, thrilled to have his own room, thrilled he no longer has to interact with other children. The almost constant silence and unwavering routine demanded by Kobalt is a bit unsettling, but Gilly, who has always been a loner, seeks companionship in Kobalt’s old dog, Mash. It is only later that Gilly begins to realize that Mash, although he appears well-cared for, has been psychologically beaten down and abused. He is “absent from his skin.” Kobalt’s need to control everything in his environment, to make it bend to his will, will extend to Gilly. When Gilly discovers Kobalt has made a cage to hold him, just as he has one for Mash, he makes a daring and frightening escape in this chilling story that intends to disturb, to give voice to the powerlessness that children know and understand. Gilly’s ultimate triumph is hard-won, but with it comes his first real understanding of the importance of true companionship, of reaching out and meaningfully connecting with another living thing. There is a folkloric quality to the setting and elements of the story but a contemporary resonance as well. (Ages 10-13)