Stella used to be a bomb-sniffing dog, but after a terrible accident, she goes to live on a small family farm to recover from her fear of loud noises. - (Baker & Taylor)
Blaming herself for the death of her handler after failing to identify an explosive, a former service beagle with severe PTSD moves through several foster homes before finding new purpose in helping her latest owner, a pet trainer with epilepsy. 12,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)
An uplifting and poignant story about a former service beagle named Stella who must find the courage to overcome her fears and use her special nose to save a girl's life.
Ever since Stella was a puppy, she was trained to use her powerful beagle nose to sniff out chemicals used in explosives and warn her human handler in order to keep people safe.
But during a routine security inspection, Stella is distracted and misses the scent of an explosive chemical. The sound of the blast is loud and scary. Stella survives but her handler'her best friend in the whole world'is gone. Stella blames herself, certain she's a bad dog.
Scared of loud noises, especially thunder and fireworks, Stella struggles with her anxiety and must be retired from being a service animal. Several families try to foster her, but sometimes Stella is so scared she howls or digs or tears things up with her teeth. She wonders if anyone will want to adopt her.
An expert dog trainer, Esperanza, thinks she can help. It's Stella's last chance to prove she can be a good dog. Stella has every reason to love her new family, especially the young human named Chloe who smells like chocolate chip cookies, newly cut grass, the pages of books, and something else'a strange chemical she can't quite identify.
Chloe has epilepsy, and a chemical inside her body surges just before she has a seizure. Stella's nose makes the connection. But how can she warn Esperanza without her thinking it's just Stella's usual anxiety? How can she convince her new family that she can be a new kind of service dog and hopefully save Chloe's life?
Told from Stella's point of view, readers will experience life through a dog's eyes, ears, and, especially, her nose. Like Babe the pig or Ivan the gorilla, Stella the beagle is an extraordinary story for kids who love animals. An endearing novel of courage, compassion, friendship, and love.
- (Deseret Book Co)
An uplifting and poignant story about a former service beagle named Stella who must find the courage to overcome her fears and use her special nose to save a girl’s life.
Ever since she was a puppy, Stella was trained to use her powerful beagle nose to sniff out dangerous chemicals and help her handler keep people safe. But during a routine security inspection, Stella misses the scent of an explosive. The sound of the blast is loud and scary. Unable to go back to work because of her anxiety, Stella is retired as a working dog.
When a young girl named Cloe wants to adopt Stella, the beagle knows this is her last chance to prove her worth. But how? When Stella smells a strange chemical inside Cloe's body, a scent that surges just before the girl has a seizure, Stella's nose makes the connection. But how can Stella warn her new family without them thinking she's having an anxiety attack? How can she convince others that she can be a new kind of service dog and hopefully save Cloe's life?
Even dogs deserve a second chance. - (Deseret Book Co)
McCall Hoyle is an award-winning author and teacher librarian. When she grows up, she’d also like to be a professional dog trainer. She writes hopeful, heartfelt books for kids of all ages and believes one of the best ways to spread hope and share her heart is by writing about the special bond between dogs and their humans.
When McCall isn’t writing or teaching, you will probably find her with one of her four-legged friends training for agility, obedience, or dock diving. If she’s feeling spontaneous or needs a change of scenery, you might find her and a furry companion chasing make-believe bunnies at a lure coursing event or even hunting rats in a straw-filled barn in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains she calls home. You can learn more about her at mccallhoyle.com. - (Deseret Book Co)
McCall Hoyle is the award-winning author and an ALA Schneider Family Book Award finalist. McCall is a sixth-grade language arts teacher in one of the largest school systems in Georgia. She has a wide circle of influencers in the middle grades, including teachers and librarians. In addition to teaching middle grade readers, she presents regularly at local schools. McCall has also presented at the National Council of Teachers of English, The American Library Association, and BookCon. She enjoys meeting teachers, librarians, parents, and readers and interacts with them regularly on social media.
- (Deseret Book Co)
School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 3–7—Stella is a good dog, but she misses her old handler Connie and is having a hard time understanding where Connie went and why loud noises such as thunder and fireworks cause her to panic. Now, living with post-traumatic stress disorder, Stella sometimes does bad things that she can't control, like escaping from crates and digging. Because of this, she's convinced she's a bad dog who cannot change. Before Stella made her way to live with Esperanza, an expert dog trainer, and her daughter Cloe, she used to be a bomb-sniffing dog at the airport. She blames herself for Connie's death because Stella was distracted and missed the scent of an explosive device. Stella and Cloe are immediately drawn to each other, and through their relationship, Stella finds that she can still use her nose and be helpful. This tender novel from a dog's perspective will help readers understand the importance of animals in their lives. This empathetic read is also full of important themes and lessons for young readers—bravery, how to overcome fears, and that mistakes don't have to define us. VERDICT A heartfelt dog story that readers young and old will enjoy.—Alicia Kalan, The Northwest Sch., Seattle
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