Cleveland Plain Dealer

Where humans have dogs, oafs have mans. But in Allen's provocative parable, mans are far cleverer than dogs. Faithful though feckless companions, they can be trained to work, play music, or fight. Some even talk. As oafs say, every boy should have a man. But while the oafish giants act like mans are pets, readers know they are slaves. Like all parables, there's a message here. We need to pay attention to our environment and to those Bangladeshi clothesmakers who do work for us. "The oaf," Allen concludes, was "selfish, thoughtless, and careless in his actions. Now his world is lost." Grade: A