Joseph Monninger

Joseph Monninger is an American novelist, memoirist, and teacher whose books often place human relationships within demanding natural landscapes. Whippoorwill follows sixteen-year-old Clair Taylor in rural New Hampshire as she tries to rescue Wally, a neglected dog chained outside a neighbouring house. Working with Danny Stewart, the troubled boy who owns him, Clair gradually turns care for the dog into a wider effort to change how all three lives are moving. Published for younger readers, the novel combines an animal-rescue story with questions about poverty, responsibility, trust, and first love. Monninger has written fiction and nonfiction for both younger and older audiences, including Baby, Seven Letters, Eternal on the Water, and memoirs shaped by travel and outdoor experience. He taught English for many years at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. Whippoorwill reflects his recurring interest in companionship, endurance, and the moral pressure created when a vulnerable creature depends on someone’s decision to act.