59 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine Applegate, Gennifer CholdenkoDogtown
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 27-52Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 27 Summary: “Lucky Dog”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of animal death and death.
Every Wednesday afternoon, the Dogtown humans play poker. When Chance first came to Dogtown, Mouse put playing cards in the wire of her cage, and Management decided that Chance was good luck. From this, Chance got privileges that include a home under the poker table. This is better than being on the List, and Chance concludes that it is “[l]ucky for them. Lucky for [her]” (72).
Chapter 28 Summary: “Watchdog”
Chapter 29 Summary: “Dog Language”
As a dog, Chance instinctively understands both dog and human language. Mouse learned mouse, dog, and human, but since Mouse doesn’t speak, he uses sign language to communicate. This seems natural to Chance, but she is still confused about Metal Head learning dog language. As far as she knows, robot dogs don’t learn like organic dogs do, and she wonders, “[I]f metal dogs became more real, then where would that leave us?” (75).
Chapter 30 Summary: “Real Dogs Only”
Chance and the other organic dogs love reading buddy days, when human children are brought to Dogtown to practice their reading while cuddling with the dogs. Children prefer to cuddle with the organic dogs, and sometimes, the organic dogs even get adopted this way. Thus, reading buddy day gets Dogtown’s dogs excited, “Even a dog like [Chance]” (78).
Chapter 31 Summary: “Reading Buddy Row”
Reading buddy row is the most comfortable place in Dogtown. Every dog wants to be a reading buddy, but Dogtown only lets the most well-behaved dogs be buddies. Thus, many organic dogs are booted from reading buddy day, but metal dogs aren’t because they “[sit] like fence posts while the kids read to them” (80).
Chapter 32 Summary: “Quinn”
Most children have no trouble finding a book and a dog to read to, but a boy named Quinn struggles with both. After giving Quinn a sniff, Chance decides that she’ll be his dog and find him a book because “a smell like that and you’ll go far in life” (83). However, Quinn isn’t interested in any of the books Chance picks.
Chapter 33 Summary: “The Three-Legged Show”
Chapter 34 Summary: “Buttered Toast With Toothpaste”
Chapter 35 Summary: “Wandering”
Eventually, Quinn wanders to the basement, where he takes an interest in Metal Head. Since there are no books in the basement, Chance considers grabbing one from reading buddy row and bringing it to Quinn. However, even if Chance did, she couldn’t move fast enough to deliver it before reading buddies ended.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Books by Heart”
Chance asks Metal Head if he knows any books by heart. Metal Head says, “I am Sam. Sam I am” (91), and Quinn runs away, excited.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Something Big”
Quinn comes back with Management and a copy of Green Eggs and Ham, which Metal Head reads as Quinn turns the pages. This is the opposite of how reading buddy day should go, but Chance realizes that “it [is] pretty clear something had happened” (95).
Chapter 38 Summary: “A Metal Heart”
The next time Chance sees Metal Head, the robot dog asks if Chance wants to go home. The question hurts, and Chance wonders, “[H]ow do you explain kindness to a machine with a hunk of metal where his heart should’ve been?” (97).
Chapter 39 Summary: “Mixed Feelings”
Some of the organic dogs are upset that Metal Head got a reading buddy. When Chance goes to talk to Metal Head about it, the robot dog again asks why Chance doesn’t go home. When Chance says it’s complicated, Metal Head asks, “[W]hat’s complicated about going home?” (99).
Chapter 40 Summary: “Fake Fleas”
Robot dogs come with fake fleas so that humans can watch the robots scratch them off, and Chance has no idea why humans want this. To distract from Metal Head scratching away fleas, Chance tells the robot that he can’t ask organic dogs about their pasts because it is painful. Chance is sure Metal Head won’t understand, but when Chance sees a new flicker in Metal Head’s eyes, Chance wonders, “[W]as it possible he had a heart he didn’t know how to use?” (102).
Chapter 41 Summary: “Out of Charge”
One day, Management forgets to charge Metal Head, and the dog runs out of power while reading to Quinn. Instead of being upset, Quinn begins to read, and “when he read[s] those words, a light [goes] on inside of him that had not been there before” (105).
Chapter 42 Summary: “I Didn’t See It Coming”
Animosity about Metal Head having a reading buddy continues to grow among the organic dogs because “every real dog in Dogtown had been passed over in favor of a metal dog” (106). Unlike the other dogs, Chance is just happy to see Quinn reading.
Chapter 43 Summary: “Bad Liars”
On the next reading buddy day, Quinn searches but can’t find Green Eggs and Ham; it is “not here. Not there. Not anywhere” (108). Chance asks all the dogs what happened to the book. They all say they don’t know, but Chance knows they’re lying, especially when she finds the book’s tattered cover in Buster’s cage.
Chapter 44 Summary: “A Happy Accident”
Management says that the book going missing is a happy accident because now Quinn can try a new book. Quinn doesn’t see it this way and gets angry. Management doesn’t know what’s happening, but Chance does: “He was starting to understand the world around him in a way he hadn’t before. And the book that had made the difference was gone” (112).
Chapter 45 Summary: “Buster”
Chance chastises Buster for chewing up the book. Buster promises he won’t do it again, but Chance doubts it. Still, Buster is adopted that day, and though Chance is annoyed with the dog, she is happy that he has found a home.
Chapter 46 Summary: “A Yorkie Named Marlene”
Marlene comes to Dogtown after her owner passed away. She was pampered by her owner, who wheeled her around in a baby carriage. Marlene wants to believe that her owner is searching for her and that every telephone pole in the world has a sign with her picture that reads, “LAST SEEN WEARING A LEOPARD-PRINT BERET. ONE MILLION DOLLAR REWARD FOR HER RETURN” (120).
Chapter 47 Summary: “The Boohoos Don’t Last”
Marlene is adopted within a week. Chance reflects that dogs are resilient because they know there’s always “another human willing to buy you a leopard-print coat with matching booties” (121).
Chapter 48 Summary: “My Dinner With Mouse”
The next night, Chance has dinner with Mouse in the basement. Metal Head pitches his escape plan, which involves Chance and Mouse helping to retrieve items he’ll need. The plan is simple enough, but Chance refuses to help Metal Head because “Quinn needs [him]” (125). Metal Head shrugs this off.
Chapter 49 Summary: “The List”
The next day, the dogs learn that Geraldine is at the top of the List. The dogs howl their displeasure, but the humans aren’t moved, which makes the dogs sad because Geraldine “ha[s] a way of giving you a nuzzle just when you need[] it most” (128).
Chapter 50 Summary: “Robots Don’t Get Ideas”
When Chance passes Metal Head’s cage, the robot claims that he has a solution to Geraldine’s problem. Chance doesn’t believe it because robot dogs aren’t supposed to have ideas of their own, and she doesn’t ask because she is preoccupied with Geraldine.
Chapter 51 Summary: “A Tail-Out”
Chance finally agrees to hear Metal Head out, agreeing to help with Metal Head’s escape if the idea helps Geraldine. Metal Head proposes a tail-out—where all the organic dogs except Geraldine ignore the humans and all the robot dogs are unplugged. It’s a fantastic idea, and when Metal Head asks if they have a deal, Chance touches her nose to his and says they do.
Chapter 52 Summary: “Diva of Dogtown”
All the dogs immediately get on board with the plan, except a former show dog who’s too busy admiring herself to remember who Geraldine is. Chance flatters the dog, telling her that everyone, including Geraldine, thinks she’s pretty and that “if there was a Best of Dogtown, [she’d] win” (139). This gets the show dog to agree.
Chapters 27-52 Analysis
Reading buddy day is another point of contention between organic and robot dogs, illustrating the unfairness of the hierarchy in Dogtown and The Dangers of Inequality. As a matter of course, organic dogs and robot dogs are separated by what they are, but reading buddy day further divides the organic dogs into those who are and are not well “behaved” enough to participate. Since all robot dogs are included in reading buddy day, this sends a message to the organic dogs that if they want to be accepted, they need to be more like the robot dogs. To do so, organic dogs must suppress their personalities and excitable tendencies, which represents the broader way in which humans impose their ideas about living and behaving onto dogs (and, implicitly, other humans) as a condition of acceptance. Reading buddy day also demonstrates that conforming does not automatically lead to acceptance. Though the organic dogs who are allowed to participate do exactly as they should, humans often adopt metal dogs instead. Reading buddy day lets humans enjoy the perks of organic dogs, such as their cuddly natures, without having to take on the responsibility of caring for them.
This once again suggests that the conflict between organic and robotic dogs stems from the unequal relationship between humans and dogs broadly. In keeping with this, the novel shows Chance’s understanding of robot dogs changing as she sees more of them and realizes that they are not her enemies. Quinn’s relationship with Metal Head, which begins in these chapters, is a turning point for Chance’s opinion of robot dogs. Up until now, Chance has found nothing positive to say about them. However, seeing Quinn and Metal Head together makes Chance realize that robot dogs have their uses and that robot dogs can offer things that organic dogs cannot.
Through reading to Quinn, Metal Head also shows that he has the capacity to care, which makes Chance understand that Metal Head does actually miss his home. Combined with how Metal Head saves Geraldine in later chapters, this helps Chance realize that Metal Head does have a heart, even if it isn’t the same as her own. This lesson is an important moment in the book’s exploration of What It Means to Be Alive, and it recontextualizes some of Chance and Metal Head’s prior interactions. For instance, Metal Head’s confusion about why Chance cannot go home, which Chance takes to be an insensitive product of his privilege as a robot dog, actually stems from a misunderstanding of his own abandonment. More broadly, the partnership between Quinn and Metal Head shows the importance of treating every being (dog or human) as an individual. Through observing the pair, Chance learns that not every child is the same. Quinn struggles with reading, so having Metal Head read to him allows Quinn to participate in reading buddy day in a way that works for him.
The List, which is more fully explained in these chapters, does the opposite, overlooking the dogs’ individuality and circumstances. The List is for dogs who will be put down because they have been at Dogtown past the point where Management thinks they will be adopted. Geraldine’s situation shows how the List rules these dogs’ lives. As an older dog, Geraldine is at the top of the List because the humans who adopt organic dogs want puppies, as though the older dogs’ lives are somehow worth less because they likely have less time to live. Metal Head’s tail-out solution represents different types of teams and shows how both living and robot dogs can do more when they work together. By unplugging the robot dogs and having the organic dogs ignore the humans to highlight Geraldine, the dog residents of Dogtown save Geraldine’s life and find her a home.
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