They could plot Tam’s progress, too, calculate his speed of travel, and make predictions about when and where he’s likely to arrive next. Students could draw “story maps” like Abby does, plotting the book’s major events on a map, along with the dates when those events happened. This book would be a terrific choice for book groups, and teachers will find numerous ways to use it in a classroom. I think this is one of the most kid-friendly books I’ve read all year, but it’s certain to please a LOT of adults too! I was completely absorbed by the story and very much taken with Abby and Tam – both of whom are characters kids will relate to, like, and find themselves rooting for. It’s engaging, heart-warming, moving and an absolute “must read” for young animal lovers. Meanwhile, Abby’s feelings of desperation and singular sense of purpose to find Tam are achingly believable. This diversion away from the central plot adds depth to the story and brings some nice friendship components to the plot. While Abby wonders about Tam, she and her parents move to Nashville, where she is surprised to find a new friend in a seemingly rough-edged girl whose father is a wealthy and famous country music star. The story alternates between Abby’s perspective (in the first person) and Tam’s (in the third), giving the reader a full picture of how both are trying desperately to find their way back to one another. Abby, meanwhile, endures the hardships of a life with little family income, a father doggedly pursuing his musician dreams, a mother struggling to help all of them, a new house/school/town, and a terrible grief over the dog she lost – a dog she believes is still alive and trying to reach her. What begins is a 400-mile journey for Tam, whose deep devotion to “his girl” finds him traveling for months through rough territory and many painful encounters with other animals, other people, and terrible winter weather. Tam manages to free himself from the crate before he’s drowned in a mountain stream, but in the course of that he’s carried far away from the accident scene – too far for anyone to find him. Heading home to NC from a competition in Virginia, their pick-up truck travels headlong into a tree, sending Tam’s crate tumbling down a mountainside. That all changes the day Abby and her Mom have an accident on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Abby and her Shetland sheepdog, Tam, spend hours every day practicing for agility training trials and simply enjoying one another’s company.

Bobbie pyron books