I believe this charming little book is a middle-grade novel.  The fiction story relates the life of a search-and-rescue dog – from the dog’s point of view. 

It starts with Ellie’s birth, adoption by a dog handler, her training and the events that shape her life.  The author has a gift for imagining life from a dog’s point of view. How does that saying go…I wish I was the person my dog thinks I am…or something like that.  This story was really gripping without being very scary.  Dogs, unlike cats, have a wondrous ability to touch our hearts and this book was no exception.  There was more than one passage in which I was so firmly in the grip of the story that it choked me up.

This would be an excellent book for the classroom and includes guiding questions in the back. ~~  Catherine Book