Morris and Buddy: The Story of the First Seeing Eye Dog by Becky Hall, Doris Ettlinger (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Morris Frank lost his sight in 1924, when he was only sixteen. But it wasn't just his sight that he lost—he lost his independence, too. Morris didn't want to be led around by a paid helper or find work making brooms, as was expected of blind people then. He wanted to lead a normal life.

One day in 1928, Morris's dad read him an article about Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American dog trainer living in Switzerland. She had been training dogs for police and army work, but had recently visited a German school where dogs were taught to help soldiers who had been blinded in World War I.

Thrilled with this new possibility, Morris set off on his own to Switzerland to meet with Dorothy Eustis and her head trainer, Jack Humphrey. Morris had big ambitions—not only did he want to learn how to work with a guide dog, but he also wanted to start his own guide dog school in America! Morris began training with his dog, Buddy. While he struggled—stepping on Buddy's paws, not paying attention to her cues, and even walking into a gatepost—Buddy waited patiently at his side, allowing him to learn. At last Morris felt ready to return to America with Buddy at his side. But his biggest adventure still lay ahead—founding The Seeing Eye, an organization that has trained thousands of dogs to help other blind people lead independent lives.

The Seeing Eye is still in existence today and continues to provide dogs and lifetime training to qualified people.

Children's Literature

This is the story of Morris Frank and how instrumental he was in starting the Seeing Eye Dog program. "Blind and alone, Morris Frank arrived in the port city of Le Havre, France, like a package." That is how the book begins and it is a dynamic sentence. It shocks the reader a little to think that this young man was treated like baggage when he traveled from the United States to Vevey, Switzerland to meet Dorothy Eustis in 1928. Morris, who had been blinded in a boxing match four years earlier, had heard of Mrs. Eustis. She was a dog trainer who had written a magazine article about German shepherd dogs being used to assist German soldiers blinded in World War I. She and her head trainer and breeder, Jack Humphrey, decided that they would also help the blind. Having a guide dog gave Morris a freedom and mobility which encouraged him so much that he set up a guide dog school after returning to his home in Nashville. The story is written is an interesting and inspiring manner, and photos of Morris Frank, his dog, Buddy, and those involved appear in the back of the book along with an extensive bibliography.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4 - This illustrated biography reads like a story. In 1928, 20-year-old Morris Frank, who had lost his sight four years earlier, traveled to Europe "like a package." Onboard the steamship, he was dependent on attendants to take him from place to place and locked in his cabin at night. His life changed, however, when he reached his destination, Vevey, Switzerland, where American dog trainer Dorothy Harrison Eustis and her colleague Jack Humphrey were waiting to teach him to work with the German shepherd he eventually christened Buddy. The narrative clearly conveys the trials of man and dog as they learned to trust one another, and the beginnings of Morris's work to bring guide dogs to the United States. The book ends on a high note with Morris crossing a dangerous street in New York City to demonstrate Buddy's reliability to the press. An afterword summarizes the rest of his crusade, which culminated in the establishment of a school named The Seeing Eye and the passage of legislation allowing guide dogs in public places. Although Ettlinger's illustrations highlight important moments, they pale in comparison to the appended archival photos of Morris and Buddy. Eva Moore's Buddy(Scholastic, 1996) covers much of the same material, but tells the story more from the dog's perspective.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

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