Ghost+Dog+Secrets

Rusty can’t take his mind off of the German shepherd he saw chained to a tree in freezing cold weather. At the encouragement of a ghost dog, he starts to bring food and water to the German shepherd, and soon realizes that the dog is being abused. When the adults fail to resolve the situation, Rusty takes matters into his own hands, and has to make a decision: Would taking the dog be stealing, or rescuing? Peg Kehret does a great job of capturing the emotions of a dog lover. The German shepherd, Ra, is loveable and sweet, every child’s ideal dog. However, I don’t see it as much of a horror novel. The ghost dog subplot was an afterthought at best. Kehret does a good job of navigating the moral gray area that is sometimes associated with rescuing neglected pets. The discussion of animal abuse and rescue was a little heavy-handed at times, but it does have a lot of good tips for animal lovers. I do recommend this book for children that love dogs, but not so much for children looking for something spooky.