Midnight at the Shelter

Alternating dogs’-eye views propel this immersive pack story from Steveson (Lizzie Flying Solo). A former shelter dog, three-legged MahDi now lives with veterinarian MomDoc, who often volunteers at a local dog shelter, where she and MahDi act as intuitive matchmakers for canines and people. When a temporary manager takes charge, his blatant fear of dogs—and willingness to designate long-term residents for euthanasia, or “The Unthinkable”—escalates the stakes for the already vulnerable charges, and MahDi tries to find each the right forever home, an intervention that culminates in the titular midnight event. Primarily following MahDi’s perceptive, dialogue-laden narration, the viewpoint shifts between a full cast of dogs who detail experiences of hardscrabble survival, abandonment, and abuse en route to the shelter (“The leg where she shot me last time burns hot with fever,” one account reads). The expansive cast can be difficult to track across perspective shifts, but themes of love, hope, and belonging resound throughout, balancing the sometimes dark content. Human protagonists read as white. A veterinarian’s afterword concludes. Ages 8–12. Agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House. (Nov.)