A strong entry into a canon of canine stories about learning to adapt to new roles in life.
A herding dog survives a major hurricane and learns to embrace change in this thriller for young readers.
Border collie runt Nando takes his herding job on a western North Carolina farm very seriously. While his official duties may be to round up the sheep, he also feels that it’s his duty to look after the humans in his care, like his owner, Esperanza, and her daughter Cloe. When a major hurricane starts brewing, Esperanza orders Cloe and her dog Stella to stay inside while she prepares for the impact, but Cloe slips out to look for barn cat Oscar. Nando follows Cloe and Stella into the woods, where a misstep in the mud sends Cloe into the raging creek before Nando can act. He jumps in after them and is swept away, even after Cloe surfaces to safety, eventually washing ashore far from home. The new neighbor’s son, Levi, is the first to find Nando, and together the two try to wend their way back home. This story of surviving a natural disaster builds dramatically as the weather worsens. Levi and Nando eventually rescue a drenched Oscar, and they struggle to find their way home. Even after the reunion with Cloe at the close of the storm, the route is still perilous, and the experience leaves Nando questioning the things he thought he knew about himself as a herding dog and those he wants to spend his life with. The fourth in her Best Friends Dog Tales series, after Forever Ripley (2025), this poignant tale will entertain thrill-seekers and animal lovers alike. Hoyle has delicately crafted a believable canine point of view using sensory details and snippets of conversation that convey information to readers, even when such details confuse narrator Nando or the opposite: “Dogs see and smell it all, and we adjust our behavior based on the information humans don’t even know they’re sharing.” Keele’s black-and-white illustrations appear sporadically throughout the text, portraying angular, boxy-faced characters in sensational scenes.
A strong entry into a canon of canine stories about learning to adapt to new roles in life.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9781639935239
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic.
A loyal black kitten’s boy is under supernatural attack.
Eleven-month-old Nimbus loves Fletcher, the boy who nursed her back to health following life-threatening injuries. When Fletcher becomes curious about a strange jar and opens it, releasing a terrible goblin, loyal Nim protects Fletcher, taking heavy damage in the process. But Fletcher’s aunt, who’s caring for him over spring break, believes Nim attacked Fletcher and dumps her far from home. Rhett, a stylish rat with star quality, befriends injured Nim and leads her to a witch’s house. While the witch cares for Nim, the witch’s cats (maternal Fern, bookish Rochester, standoffish Bianca, and openly hostile Abraxas) teach Nim important cat skills. She also discovers she has a supernatural ability: In destroying one eye of the nightmare demon in the fight to protect Fletcher, Nim gained its “dream sight.” But she also learns it might come back for Fletcher, who no longer has Nim to protect him, posing a time-sensitive, high-stakes threat. Even though the witch’s home is nice and magic itself seems to be telling her to stay put, Nim wants to find a way back to Fletcher. As a hero, Nimbus is as gritty and determined as she is adorable. Tear-jerker moments explore pet abandonment—readers may want their own pets on hand to hug—all the way through the magical, action-packed finale. Fletcher and the witch read white.
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780062680372
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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