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Amazing Animals: The Incredible Journey

The Incredible Journey Buy this book

More than forty years after its initial publication, Sheila Burnford's simple story of the love, loyalty, and determination of three pets to find their way home retains its power.

Bodger, an elderly, comfort-loving old bull terrier; Luath, a young Labrador retriever, and Tao, a clever Siamese cat, live with the Hunter family in Canada. When the Hunters must move to England for nine months, John Longridge, a family friend who lives some two hundred miles away, offers to care for the animals, who settle in fairly well with him, except for Luath, who never quite accepts his new surroundings.


Not long before the owners are scheduled to return, Longridge takes a brief vacation, having arranged for his housekeeper to care for the animals; concurrently, Luath decides that it is time to find their people, and leads the others west, toward home--and through a vast wilderness area. Because of a mix-up in communication, the animals' absence goes undetected for several weeks.

The journey starts out badly, as old Bodger, already finding it hard to keep up with the others, is injured in an encounter with a bear cub. But the animals manage to survive and to persist, supporting each other, sharing what little food they are able to hunt or steal. Bodger eventually is rejuvenated, and later initiates a few meetings with humans, whom he trusts implicitly, and who generally behave with kindness.

But nature and circumstance are not always kind to three house pets. Tao nearly drowns in a raging river and is separated from his friends, but is rescued by a little girl. Bodger and Luath battle with an angry farm collie when they steal chickens from a farm. Tao is stalked by a lynx that is as cunning a hunter as Tao himself. Luath is badly injured by a porcupine's quills.

When the animals' absence is finally discovered as the Hunters return, they learn of some of the sightings of the unlikely trio and are able to trace the path of the animals. But the last part of the journey is through forbidding terrain, and the animals are already weakened by their long journey. Will they survive?

Even when one knows the ending, it is still impossible to read the last chapter without tears, and without wanting to cuddle one's own loyal little pets, whose devotion is palpable even if they don't travel through a wilderness to show it.

The Incredible Journey illustrates the value of mutual support, for the animals could not have long survived without one another; unswerving loyalty, both to one another and to their humans; and simple perseverance in the face of the worst obstacles. It is a lovely book and deserves its status as a classic.

Disney has filmed the story twice--initially as The Incredible Journey in a black-and-white version in 1963, and as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey in a color version thirty years later, in 1993, with dubbed voices for the animals. Though both film versions are excellent, if you've never read The Incredible Journey, do read it. If you've read it before, read it again. And be sure to keep a supply of tissues handy, especially at the end.