DYLAN'S DREAM

In Troy’s middle-grade series entry, a trained service dog has adventures with his owner.

Dylan is a cocker spaniel whose owner, Casey, works hard to train him as a search-and-rescue dog. Dylan is smaller than typical animals in the field, but he’s smart and has an intuitive relationship with Casey. Dylan attends “Dream Big K-9 Academy,” where he’s trained by Roger, the academy’s owner. Sumo, Casey’s best friend, is a social media guru who promotes Dylan online to a growing fandom called “Dylan’s Dog Squad”: “ ‘Look this way, Dylan,’ yelled Sumo, taking the picture. ‘We’ve got to keep Dylan’s Dog Squad informed. Your fans want to see you.’ ” Soon, Dylan’s intuitive abilities are needed to find a dog named Lily in a practice search on Catalina Island. Although another dog-in-training is distracted by a skunk, causing chaos, Dylan saves the day. A promotional event at an ice cream shop turns into a free-for-all when Sumo accidentally promotes free ice cream in a social media post. Despite all the humorous antics, Dylan also accomplishes serious rescues, as when he finds a missing 6-year-old orphan named Luca. Troy uses italics to denote Dylan’s thoughts in one-sided pseudo-conversations with Casey throughout the book, which effectively gives Dylan a relatable, humanlike personality. One example shows Dylan’s hesitancy getting on a seesaw: “ ‘You’ve done the seesaw lots of times in Agility class.’ Casey gently turned Dylan’s muzzle toward him. ‘What’s the big deal?’ The seesaw is scary. It moves up and down.” Troy also employs occasional moments of humor that will appeal to the book’s young target audience: “Trotting behind Roger, Dylan studied the backs of his ragged tennis shoes. It would be so easy to nip your ankles.”

An entertaining, sometimes-dramatic glimpse into the life of a search-and-rescue dog.