Every now and then, I get a bee in my bonnet about an author I think everybody should read. Today’s column will be devoted to one such author. His name was Farley Mowat, and he died just short of his 93rd birthday in 2014.

Now, I realize that no one should be named Farley Mowat. Even a Canadian, which he was (and descended from a former premier, no less). Farley (I refuse to call him Mowat, which sounds like a furry rodent) was a prodigious talent who wrote more than 40 books, some of which were turned into wonderful Hollywood movies. If his moniker was Ernest Hemingway, he’d be a household name!

Still, he had a Hemingway-like life. In WWII, Farley went into the Canadian Army as a private and came out a captain, leading a rifle platoon in the invasion of Sicily and seeing combat throughout Italy. Later in the war, he braved enemy lines to arrange food drops for the starving Dutch, saving countless lives.

After the war, he became an environmentalist and spent years with furry Arctic animals (I’ll have to find out of “mowats” actually exist). Farley almost singlehandedly drew attention to the plight of the Inuit peoples and to serious environmental issues, bringing about substantive political change in Canada.

And, boy, could he write. His books were translated into 52 languages and sold more than 17 million copies. His books on the Canadian north are classics. His greatest work, Never Cry Wolf, detailing his experiences with Arctic wolves, was made into one of those fabulous Hollywood films. Believe it or not, despite his war service and blue-blood pedigree, he was once denied entry in the United States for being a “Communist sympathizer.”

Oh, well. If only Canada was the 51st state…

JUST KIDDING!

Many of Farley’s books are for children. New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof named his The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, first published in 1957 (and never out of print since), as one of the best kids’ books of all time. I used to work with Kristof and never knew he loved the book.

I loved it, too. In fact, it’s possibly my favorite of all time. I first read it when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I recently bought several copies, one of which I sent to my grandson Baxter, who loves dogs and books.

The dog in the story is a mongrel named “Mutt,” and every kid should have one just like him. I had one, Scruffy, and my family still talks about him although he’s been gone more than 30 years. I have a photo of Scruffy on my desk, right next to me and Yogi Berra at a golf outing. (The resemblance between Scruffy and Yogi is remarkable.)

Anyway, I defy anyone, child or adult, to read The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be and not shed a tear at the ending.

All of Farley’s books should be read, most of them by kids.

Lawrence De Maria has self-published more than 30 thrillers and mysteries on Amazon. None of his characters are named Farley Mowat.