I am a very educated dog (I have several advanced training class graduation certificates) and from time to time I like to read a good novel … especially about dogs. So when author Jennifer Caloyeras reached out to me about reading her newest young adult novel, Strays, I was ready to curl up in my crate with her book.
Strays is a book about a sixteen-year-old human girl named Iris who doesn’t know how to handle her emotions. Her mom passed away, and her dad is not around much because he is working all the time to deal with the loss of his wife. Needless to say, she has had a very rough time. Her way of dealing with her problems is to get upset and mad which has led to her getting into BIG trouble at her school and with the police. For example, she sort of threatened her English teacher, which the school didn’t think was very funny. Besides failing her English class and having to do summer school, she also had to complete court mandated community service.
I could easily relate to the main character Iris as she reminded me a lot of my dog brother, Elvis. Elvis spent too many years in the puppy mill before being rescued, and as a result, he gets mad very easy and doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions.
Getting back to the book – as luck would have it, Iris is assigned to do her community service at Ruff Rehabilitation, a program that takes homeless animals and pairs them up with troubled kids. The idea of the program is to teach the dogs how to be polite and well behaved so they can find their forever home. Iris is assigned Roman, a Pit Bull, who has a lot of issues because his previous owner abused him.
I don’t want to give too much away, but we see Iris and Roman grow together and deal with their challenges. Personally, I feel the author did a great job capturing the human animal bond and this would be a great book to share with the young adults in your life.
To learn more about the novel Strays, go to: Strays: A novel by Jennifer Caloyeras
To pickup or order your own copy (It will come out tomorrow!), go to: Strays: A Novel
Over all, I give Strays, the novel, two paws up!
Your Pal,
