The Poet's Dog

The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachlan, 88 pages

This is a short, sweet story about a dog, Teddy, who was rescued by a poet, Sylvan.  Sylvan tells Teddy that only poets and children can understand dogs, which turns out to be true, at least once Teddy begins to understand human words.  Teddy, in turn, rescues two human children, Nickel and Flora, from a bad storm.  He leads them back to Sylvan's cabin so they will be warm and safe but Sylvan is not there.  Through the book, the story of Sylvan and Teddy is revealed.  This story is definitely predictable, especially for adults, but even children will be able to guess what happened to Sylvan and few will be surprised by the bittersweet ending of the book.  This is a good early chapter book for beginning readers, especially kids who like animal stories.