Dog Whisperer: The Rescue: The Rescue

Rescue is a very good book for younger teens and pre-teens. I would also recommend a book that teachers and kids love, ADVENTURES OF PACHELOT (Book #1 Last Voyage of the Griffin and Book #2 Fort Brokenheart) by Wendy Caszatt-Allen. I must admit she is a friend of mine, so I am a bit biased, but movie rights have been sold and you will fall in love with Pachelot (Pach-e-low). Enjoy !

This is a kid's book and I do not normally read kid's books, but my mother picked it up for me in the book store and insisted I read it as the only thing I love more than reading, is dogs. Having ran out of historical fiction, I sat down and devoured this in just a few hours. It was really quite charming. The writing is obviously meant to appeal to the younger crowd as there is an overabundance of exclamation and question marks and the word "like" is used quite often midsentence here and there, but the story itself was sweet. The first half is about Emily rescuing a dog she finds on the rocky coast of Maine after a rough storm. After rushing the dog to the vet and having a few heart wrenching moments of fear that the dog is going to die, Emily decides to name the dog Zack and happily, he recovers. Emily and Zack develope a bond that exceeds the normal human and pet relationship and they share dreams and thoughts. They even manage to bring an old cranky neighborhood lady out of her shell. Meanwhile, Emily is also dealing with her inner issues of being adopted. Towards the end, somebody claims that Zack is their missing dog. Emily must find a way to keep her newfound friend or suffer a broken heart. There is apparently going to be a sequel and tho I don't plan on going out of my way to get it, I would read it if my mother finds it at her local bookstore.

Posted 6/1/2009: Emily lives in New England with her adoptive parents, who teach at a local college. She has been with them since her adoption right after her birth. She is part black and part white and lives right next to the ocean. One night she experiences a dream about drowning, and then has the same dream for the next two nights. She awakens with the compulsion to go down to the shore and finds a large dog washed up on the rocky ground. He has been injured and has a fractured leg and lacerations. Her father takes him to the vet and they are both told that he has little chance of living, but he does recover with good nursing care and a lot of love to help him. There seems to be a telepathic bond between Emily and Zack (his new name). Mrs. Griswold is a widow who lives down the road and she seems to have a bad reputation. Zack lets Emily know that she is actually lonely and in need of a friend. She takes a chance and goes up to Mrs. Griswold's home and is surprised when she is actually pleasant. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Zack's actual owners show up and want the dog back. They are not very nice people and Emily got the impression through Zack that they had neglected him. There is a conflict between the two men and Zack's vet and Emily and it all straightens out and Emily now can keep Zack. I have a feeling that this telepathic bond between the two will figure greatly in the rest of the series of books due out in the near future. The book is targeting the adolescent and preadolescent reading segment, but adults will enjoy it as I did.