A Million Ways Home by Dianna Dorisi Winget 242 pages

I'm not going to lie, this book made me cry like a baby.  It was a really great book that plucked on every heartstring I own!  Poppy has always lived with her Grandma Beth.  Her parents died when she was only one year old.  She and her grandmother have their own little rituals, their favorite activities, even their own way of communicating, but then Grandma Beth has a stroke and ends up in a hospital.  Poppy is forced to stay at the children's shelter with a brute of a roommate until she can get her grandma back home.  When she finds that her grandma has been moved to a nursing home, Poppy can't wait until the next day to go visit.  She sneaks out and grabs a bus.  Unfortunately, she doesn't really know where the nursing home is.  Poppy ends up at a gas station where a violent robbery is committed and she's the only one who sees the robber's face.  Worse is that he has seen hers, too.  Now she is the one and only witness.  The detective in charge of the case comes up with a way to keep her hidden, one which, as a side benefit, involves Poppy being able to volunteer at the animal shelter.  There she meets a beautiful dog with a future as uncertain as her own.  This was a very engaging story that had believable characters and a satisfying ending.  I highly recommend this Mark Twain Award nominee to 4th - 8th grade readers.

Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RV's on a Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt 278 pages



 

Just let me say, my dog loving friends, that you need to read this book!  You will be so jealous of the 11 volunteers who got to make this trip with the wise-cracking author David Rosenfelt. He even made the poop-scooping sound, well, maybe not like fun, but like something you would be willing to do.  I must confess, I am not normally a non-fiction reader.  I love Rosenfelt's ( may I call him David?) mystery series featuring Andy Carpenter, the attorney, dog-resucer, and philanthorpist. So, when I saw this book, I knew I had to read it.  You will enjoy reading about the planning, the road-trip itself, and how David and his wife acquired each and every dog who made the trip.  Just think of all the dog hair involved! Not to mention other logistics like food! You will find pictures of the trip and more information about David's Golden Retreiver Rescue group, the Tara Foundation, on his website.  He claims Tara is the best dog in the world.  Well, she may have been the best Golden, but my dog Max, a black lab, is the best dog in the world!