Reading Response of "There is No Dog" by Meg Rosoff

          The book “There is No Dog” by Meg Rosoff deals with the topic of fairness. The main character, Bob, is God, but at the same time is also a teenage boy that deals with normal teenage problems such as crushes, parents, and responsibility. He falls in love with a mortal named Lucy and soon apocalyptic weather begins. Whenever Bob falls in love sudden flashes of lightning and floods start to take place. Meanwhile, Mr. B (the man in charge of looking after Bob's choices as God) is frantically trying to put an end to all of it. I think that the story isn't fair. It's fair for Bob, but Mr. B, Lucy, and the people and animals on Earth are being negatively affected by Bob's choices and they can't do anything about it.

          Just because its fair for a few select people doesn't mean that it's fair for everyone. Sure, it's fair for Bob because he gets whatever he wants and he doesn't have to worry about the consequences of his actions, but it isn't fair for everyone that has to take the hit for his mistakes. Mr. B, for example, has to constantly put up with Bob and try to fix Bob's mistakes or he will be fired from his job. Also, Mr. B is indirectly running Earth because whatever Bob does to “help” Earth, Mr. B has to change. Mr. B obviously has a tough job that he doesn't get enough credit for, but if he was to leave his position as assistant, there wouldn't be any other good job opportunities that he could turn to.

          Also, it isn't entirely fair for Lucy either. While, it is her choice whether or not she wants to be in a relationship with Bob, she is also being negatively affected. Due to the fact that she's a mortal that lives on Earth, she has to constantly put up with all of the terrible weather. “It was hailing in the middle of summer.” On top of all of that, Bob knows that he won't be able to stay with her forever because the mortals that he falls in love with end up dead. Even though he knows this he stays with her and unfairly lets her believe that everything will work out. Personally, I find this really selfish. Even though I understand that he loves her, at the same time he should know that both of them would be better off if he lets her go.

          The last reason why the book isn't fair is that Bob doesn't think about all of the people and animals when he makes decisions about Earth. One example of this is that within the first 20 pages of the book, the animals started to eat each other. He made monstrous animals that began to devour all of the smaller animals and, as usual, Mr. B had to swoop in and fix everything for Bob. Also, frogs began to fall from the sky along with tsunamis that flooded streets. Even though these things weren't directly affecting him, he should think of others and how the situation will affect them.

          The book “There is No Dog” by Meg Rosoff isn't fair for the majority of the characters because of the actions of the main character Bob. I think that the message of how to treat people like you would want to be treated can easily be applied to the real world. Sometimes, people (like Bob) only think of themselves without taking in others into consideration.