Daring Dogs: 30 True Tales of Heroic Hounds

by Kimberlie Hamilton

Overview

Meet the most extraordinary dogs in the world in this illustrated book of mini-profiles, from the first cloned pup to canine war heroes and beyond.

Dive into the exciting stories of 30 of the most amazing pooches in history with animal rights activist Kimberlie Hamilton. Alongside colorful illustrations, Daring Dogs tells the incredible stories of Smoky, a four-pound Yorkie who served in World War II; Laika, the first dog to launch into space; and many more inspiring canines from around the world. Filled with fun quizzes and dog-based trivia, this is a perfect entry point to history for dog lovers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338618037
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	162,638
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kimberlie Hamilton has written all sorts of things over the years, but what she loves most of all is writing entertaining non-fiction books for kids with curious minds. She believes that everyone and everything has a fascinating story to tell, if one simply knows how to observe and which questions to ask. Kimberlie has two Master’s degrees, one in screenwriting from the University of California and another in Cultural & Creative Communication from the University of Aberdeen. She lives with her partner and four cats in Scotland and hopes to have her own animal sanctuary someday! Visit her online at www.kimberliehamilton.co.uk.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Fearless Felines:"A cornucopia for cat connoisseurs." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

05/01/2020

Gr 3–5—Dogs are more than just man's best friend. This companion title to Hamilton's Fearless Felines: 30 True Tales of Courageous Cats highlights more than 30 furry friends who have saved lives, helped with scientific breakthroughs, and traveled the world. This title is broken up into one-page stories about the dogs interspersed with double-page spreads filled with fun facts, other heroic hounds related to one of the main dogs featured, quizzes, and other fun canine-centric listicles. Each individual dog's profile includes art created by a different illustrator, giving each story its own artistic flair. Dogs are depicted as cartoons and gorgeous watercolor impressions. A time line of dog "firsts" is shown at the beginning of the book and the end. A glossary, information about the author and illustrators, further reading, and an index are also appended. VERDICT An excellent addition to elementary school libraries and children's nonfiction collections where animals, especially dogs, are popular.—Molly Dettmann, Norman North High School, OK

School Library Journal

2020-03-01
There has never been a shortage of heroic dogs, but this effort singles out a kennelful for special attention.

From search-and-rescue dogs to those that showed special dedication to their human companions, film-star dogs to those that attend to humans with special needs, royal dogs to pups that have provided distinguished service on the battlefield, they run the gamut. So does the clarity of the presentation. Hamilton starts off with a timeline of human-canine interaction, with entries including: “1925 / Life-Saving Serum Run in Alaska Sled Dogs to the Rescue”; “C. 450 BC / Plato Says, ‘A Dog Has the Soul of a Philosopher’ ”; and “14,000 BC / Earliest Dog Is Discovered in Germany.” Another page, “They Also Served,” lists the exploits of 15 brave dogs in World War II—and Buster, who sniffed bombs in Iraq in 2003. Most of the work is taken up with one-page biographies (with life dates if known) of 30 well-known and some other less-recognized canines. These brief tales are engaging and include stylized illustrations of the dogs, provided by 17 different illustrators. Clumsy writing, however, results in the not-infrequent infelicitous sentence: A former stray “buries any leftovers in his food bowl,” for instance. Inaccurate glossary definitions further diminish the book’s utility. A final list includes 10 useful ways to help dogs.

Uncritical dog lovers may lap this up. (further reading, websites, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews