This is the book that made me want to have a dog in the first place. I also read it as a pre-teen, but I think my parents regretted buying me the book because I cried and cried for a puppy for days after I finished it. I mean CRIED. They wouldn't budge though- they had their doggie days with their Saints a few years before that and weren't ready to have a new dog. I had to wait until I was well on my own before I could think about a dog. And now I have Sola
However I don't think I could read the book again. If it upset me that much as a pre-teen I don't even want to think about how upset I would get now.
Oddly, my mother feels the same about Call of the wild by Jack London. You can't even bring it up. Or Old Yeller. I pity whoever brings that up around my mom