From the author of Stella--nominated for fourteen Best Book of the Year state awards--this heartwarming story is about a street dog named Millie and a young girl who are both dealing with abandonment issues and must give trust and belonging a second chance.
Millie is a feisty border terrier who lives on the streets and has a keen sense for finding scraps of food, usually in the shadows or the cover of darkness. She protects herself with a shield of what is perceived by many as aggression--barking and snarling--when in reality, Millie is just plain scared.
Turned over to animal control after a recent run-in with the dogcatcher, Millie is rescued by a special education teacher who also rehabilitates and rehomes dogs. It's a win-win. Together, the dogs and her students learn emotional resilience, anger management, and other coping skills.
When one of the students, a struggling reader named Tori, shows a natural gift for dog training and working with fearful dogs, Millie is temporarily placed in her care. Tori may be young, but she knows a thing or two about anger, fear, and abandonment after her mother could no longer care for her and she was placed in kinship care with her grandfather. Millie wonders if she's finally found her person and begins to let down her emotional guard. But when trust and belonging are challenged, Millie reverts to old habits--fleeing, hiding, and growling. Will she end up back on the streets? Or can Millie and Tori embrace their training, trust in each other, and find a forever home together?
Mille is an empathy-building novel for young readers who love dogs and is a tender portrayal of the importance of emotional safety and what it means to truly belong.---from the publisher
208 pages 978-1639932337 Ages 8-11
Keywords: dogs, abandonment, understanding others, trust, empathy, part of a series, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old
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There is an army out there of children who love and trust animals. They can trust a dog or a horse even when the adults in their lives cannot be trusted. They can love and be loved by an animal.
Millie is one of those dogs who has been tossed aside and has found a life on the street. She was lucky enough to meet Big Guy, a dog who shows her how to survive, what to watch out for, how to get enough to eat. In turn, Millie rescues Little Pup who has been abandoned and now is lucky enough to have found Millie.
Big Guy, Millie and Little Pup love each other. They trust each other in a world where trust has abandoned them.
We meet Millie as the snow begins to fall, as she waits anxiously for Big Guy to return after being gone for more days than usual, and as Little Pup shivers in a corner behind the trash cans. Then, the dogcatcher comes and Millie isn't there to take care for Little Pup any more. Millie won't be there if Big Guy comes back looking for her.
We all know that when things change it can be for the better or for the worse. In Millie's case she has been taken home from the animal rescue shelter by a woman named Lee, a Native American, who understands dogs and offers them second chances.
Can Millie find a new home? Can Millie change her old ways of surviving?
Heart tugs in each chapter. A great read alike for a reader you know who would love BLACK BEAUTY.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com 4.0 stars
