Trevor Tower doesn’t worry about being short until he is assigned dog-walking duty with Loyola Louden, the tallest person in his class.
But the dogs are a wonderful distraction, and even before Trevor and Loyola vow to solve the mystery of a missing spotted dog, they are becoming good friends.
In this standalone prequel to the acclaimed novel The Spotted Dog Last Seen—a New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing —Jessica Scott Kerrin gives readers another mystery to solve and a lost dog to find.
Only, does the missing dog even exist?
- Canadian Children’s Booknews: “What distinguishes Kerrin’s middle-grade novels, The Spotted Dog Last Seen and The Missing Dog is Spotted, is that despite what they are on the surface – stories with sensitive preadolescence male protagonists, a mystery and a celebration of things literary – they can also work as guidebooks for children dealing with loss. The emotional situations that the protagonists face are the human conditions under which adults stagger: death, guilt and the transitory nature of all things. Kerrin’s novels are about human resilience, self-acceptance, forgiveness and recognizing the goodness that endures, even while accepting that loss is inevitable and some losses are irreplaceable. Treating these themes so honestly and, ultimately, hopefully for young readers deserves recognition.”
- School Library Journal: “Kerrin writes with unusual perception about the emotional lives of young people.”
- Booklist: “Funny, absorbing and touching, The Missing Dog is Spotted resonates with the riches to be found in unexpected friendships and the importance of connection, however transient it may be.”
- National Post: “Trevor is a sweet character, a little neurotic but ultimately good-natured, the introverted foil to many of the rambunctious boy characters that frequent middle-grade novels.”